Tag: Sussex Heritage Trust

Sussex Heritage Trust 2024 Awards Launched at Berwick

Sussex Heritage Trust Chairman David Cowan and Rupert Toovey at Berwick Church

Leading architects, artisans and supporters gathered at St Michael and All Angels, Berwick, East Sussex for the launch of the 2024 Sussex Heritage Trust Awards.

Sussex Heritage Trust Chairman, David Cowan thanked The Revd. Peter Blee, headline sponsors Irwin Mitchell and all gathered for their hard work and support.

The church’s fine decorative scheme has recently been sensitively restored. It was commissioned by Bishop George Bell of Chichester. Bell was a great patron of the arts. He wished to see churches once more filled with colour and beauty. Eternal truths would be proclaimed anew in modern art, poetry and music. More people would be drawn into the Christian community by the revival of this old alliance and renewed vitality. Bell founded the Sussex Churches Art Council. Relying on generous patrons, like the famous economist John Maynard Keynes, he began to commission work. Keynes, a frequent visitor to Charleston, was close to Duncan Grant.

During the summer and autumn of 1940 the Battle of Britain was fought over the skies of Sussex. The Luftwaffe failed to defeat the R.A.F. but the Germans continued the Blitz into the May of 1941. Against this backdrop, Bishop Bell commissioned Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell to paint St Michael and All Angels. The parish church at Berwick is just a few miles from the artists’ home at Charleston.

Writing to her daughter Angelica Bell in 1941, Vanessa Bell proclaimed that Charleston was “all a-dither with Christianity”. Large panels were prepared to be painted on in the barn at Charleston. Family, friends and neighbours were used as models. These well known Christian stories were retold in paint and set in the Sussex landscape.

Sponsors Matthew Baker of NFU, Nicholas Toovey of Toovey’s and Daniel Grainge of Kreston Reeves

Initially the project met with local opposition but Kenneth Clark and Frederick Etchells acted as expert witnesses and the scheme was accepted. At the time Kenneth Clark was director of the National Gallery in London and Surveyor of the King’s Pictures.

The Sussex Heritage Trust’s work is as important today in promoting best practice in our county’s built environment and landscape whilst encouraging and supporting talented young people into careers in conservation, building and horticulture. I am delighted that Toovey’s, alongside a number of Sussex companies, remain long-term sponsors and supporters of their important work.

The closing date for entries for this year’s Sussex Heritage Trust Awards is 22nd March. To find out more visit sussexheritagetrust.org.uk.

Community and Aspiration at the Heart of Sussex in 2023

Simon Knight and Rupert Toovey at Lancing College Chapel for the launch of the 2023 Sussex Heritage Trust Awards

2023 has been a year marked by both joys and sorrows.

The close of the second great Elizabethan age and the loss of HM Queen Elizabeth II was followed by the joyous coronation of HM King Charles III.

Throughout his life the King has provided the most remarkable model of servant leadership with a deep sense of faith, calling, vocation and stewardship.

King Charles’ vision is aspirational on a societal level with a wholeness to his approach. Heritage, conservation, education, health and well being and social inclusion work in concert with business, the environment and countryside. His approach to vernacular, regional architecture has been to build buildings that build communities.

Here in Sussex these values were given eloquent expression by our county’s people, communities and charities throughout 2023. Amongst these was the work of the Sussex Heritage Trust and the West Grinstead Ploughing Match & Agricultural Society. Both of these organisations seek to promote best practice and aspiration in our built and rural environments. They do this through their awards and prizes whilst providing bursaries and encouraging people, especially the young, to invest in careers in the agriculture industry and endangered heritage crafts and trades.

Rowan Allan at the 2023 West Grinstead Ploughing Match and Agricultural Society Show

Rowan Allan, together with Felicity Elliott, is the Honorary Secretary of The West Grinstead & District Ploughing Match & Agricultural Society. The Society has been holding shows for over 150 years. It seeks to re-connect town and country and show people what farming and the countryside are really about. There is extraordinary stewardship amongst our district’s farming community. Our landscape is part of our nation’s heritage and identity and it is wholly dependent on the life given to it by our farmers.

This year’s Sussex Heritage Trust awards were launched by the now past Chairman of the Trust, Simon Knight, DL, at Lancing College Chapel. The chapel has received numerous awards from the Trust and is open to the public.

The work of the Sussex Heritage Trust’s is important in promoting best practice in our county’s built environment and landscape whilst encouraging and supporting talented young people into careers in conservation, building and horticulture.

I am proud that Toovey’s and so many local businesses continue to invest in and support charities and communities across Sussex.

The hope filled work of people, charities and organisations across Sussex blesses us and they deserve our thanks and support.

I wish you all a hope filled and peaceful New Year!

Launch of 2023 Sussex Heritage Trust Awards

Simon Knight, Chairman of the Sussex Heritage Trust, with Rupert Toovey at the launch of the 2023 Awards

Leading architects, artisans and supporters gathered in the recently completed Lancing College Chapel for the launch of the 2023 Sussex Heritage Trust Awards.

Through its work and awards the Sussex Heritage Trust promotes and encourages best practice in our county’s built environment and landscape.

Chairman of the trust, Simon Knight, thanked Lancing College for hosting this year’s launch and headline sponsors, Irwin Mitchell, together with all the trust’s sponsors and supporters.

We were welcomed by Jeremy Tomlinson who worked at Lancing College for 41 years as a teacher of English, Head of Drama, Housemaster, Senior Master and Registrar. Jeremy has also been at the heart of the Friends of Lancing Chapel for many years and provided a fascinating talk on the history, life and development of the chapel.

Begun in 1868, the Grade I listed chapel at Lancing College is the largest school chapel in the world. The friends provide funds to maintain and conserve the Chapel which is dedicated to St Mary and St Nicholas. Jeremy explained how the Friends have built the west wall and rose window, completed the glazing, lighting and furnishing of the Chapel and contributed to the Handford Porch, the South Aisle door, the new Crypt altar and on-going stone conservation.

The award winning and recently completed west end of Lancing College Chapel

For most of the Chapel’s life the west end was never completed. In 2017 the two open arches in the west wall were filled with blind tracery in limestone and a design for a west porch by Michael Drury RIBA was given official approval. The Chapel Completion Campaign was launched in 2019 and funds flooded in. This enabled a contract with Chichester Stoneworks Ltd to be signed the same year.

After 154 years the Chapel’s west porch and the Chapel itself was finally completed in time for the its dedication on 23 April 2022.

The Chapel is open to the public daily throughout the year and new Friends are always welcome.

The Chapel has received numerous Sussex Heritage Trust Awards.

The Sussex Heritage Trust’s work is important in promoting best practice in our county’s built environment and landscape whilst encouraging and supporting talented young people into careers in conservation, building and horticulture. I am delighted that Toovey’s remain long-term sponsors and supporters of their important work.

The closing date for entries for this year’s Sussex Heritage Trust Awards is 31st March. To find out more visit sussexheritagetrust.org.uk.

Review of the Year, 2022

Andrew Bernardi playing in support of the Chestnut Tree House

What an extraordinary year 2022 has been. As a nation we mourned the loss of HM Queen Elizabeth II and as the second great Elizabethan age drew to a close we ushered in a new Carolean era. It has been particularly hopeful to see the qualities of duty, service and affection for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, that were so admired in our late Queen, embraced and taken forward by our new King.

The war in Ukraine has brought to an end a long era of peace and economic prosperity in Europe leading to inflation, and many in our nation face hardship and personal challenges. And yet it is my experience that across Sussex the response has been generous.

There is a rich diversity of people in Sussex working for the common good in support of our communities, charities and creating opportunities for our young people. They are bringing positive change for the future.

Throughout the year I returned again and again to Arundel Castle and its gardens to find many of the charities that make West Sussex such a special place gathered, celebrated and supported after the separation which Covid-19 brought to our county and communities.

Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice supports children with life-limiting illnesses and their families. Music at their Arundel Castle dinner was provided by Andrew Bernardi. As well as bringing the finest musicians to Sussex through his Shipley Arts Festival Concerts Andrew is also passionate about supporting music and young people through his String Academy.

Arundel Castle gardener, Rose Philpot, The Collector Earl’s Garden

Sussex Heritage Trust supporters were blessed with a tour of Arundel Castle’s gardens. It’s a charity which promotes and celebrates best practice in our county’s built environment and landscape through its annual awards whilst encouraging and supporting talented young people into careers in conservation, building and horticulture.

Castle Gardener Rose Philpot led one of the tours. Rose’s story is inspiring. She discovered her passion for gardening on work experience in the castle gardens. Rose volunteered and worked in the gardens whilst she trained at Plumpton and was eventually offered a full-time job. Her career is progressing at Arundel and she has been given responsibility for looking after the stumpery, herbaceous, Round House and cut flower gardens which she speaks about with a real sense of ownership and a gardener’s delight.

Those who work for the common good in support of our communities and charities, and provide opportunities for our young people are bringing positive change for the future.

I remains to wish you all a Happy New Year.

Duncan Grant Painting to be Sold in Aid of Sussex Heritage Trust

Charleston House, Sussex

A still life oil painting by the famous Charleston and Bloomsbury artist Duncan Grant is to be sold at Toovey’s in aid of the Sussex Heritage Trust at 10am on Wednesday 30th November. It carries a pre-sale auction estimate of £6000-8000.

Through its work and awards the Sussex Heritage Trust promotes and encourages best practice in our county’s built environment and landscape.

The oil on canvas, titled Still Life with Bloomsbury Chair and Spring Flowers was donated to the Trust by Peter Carreras, a distinguished Sussex artist and printmaker, and his wife, Greta. It is believed that they purchased the painting in 1972 at The Ringmer Festival organised by the philanthropist Ian Askew.

Duncan Grant’s painting provides a very British voice to the influences of Post-Impressionism. It depicts a handmade jug, of the type made by both Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, filled with flowers upon a painted Bloomsbury chair. His handling of the paint and the joyous palette is reminiscent of Bloomsbury and although a later work it is a fine example. A very similar chair can be seen in Duncan Grant’s studio at Charleston House in Sussex and is thought to have been painted by Richard Shone in 1970.

Duncan Grant (1885-1978), Chair with Flowers. Still Life, oil on canvas

It was Vanessa Bell’s love for Duncan Grant and her sister Virginia Woolf which brought her to Sussex during the First World War. Vanessa was living with the artist Duncan Grant, and his lover David Garnett, at Wissett Lodge in Suffolk when her sister, the author, Virginia Woolf, wrote to her in the May of 1916. She extolled the virtues and potential of Charleston house near Firle in East Sussex. Virginia explained that not only did Charleston house need a tenant but that the neighbouring farmer was short of ‘hands’ to work on the land. Duncan Grant and David Garnett needed to be essentially employed on the land to avoid being called up to fight in the Great War or the prospect of gaol as conscientious objectors.

They covered the walls and furniture at Charleston with painted decoration. Duncan and Vanessa painted those who visited, the countryside around them and scenes from their home as can be seen in this still life.

The Sussex Heritage Trust’s work is important in promoting best practice in our county’s built environment and landscape whilst encouraging and supporting talented young people into careers in conservation, building and horticulture. I feel sure that the sale of this beautiful Duncan Grant Still Life will bless the Trust and its work.