Stockport Art Gallery and War Memorial

Today we paid a visit to Stockport, firstly to take part in the Woodbank parkrun and secondly to visit the Art Gallery and War Memorial.  When we got out of the car at the park, we were greeted by this sight:

The council website confirmed:

In 1921, Sir Thomas Rowbotham, a former Major of Stockport, presented to the town, Woodbank Memorial Park in honour of the Stockport men who died in the Great War. The park is 90 acres in extent, is beautifully wooded and, skirted by the river Goyt, presents striking natural views. The bluebells in the woods are a feature almost unequalled in any public park in the country. (Taken from the Stockport Official Guidebook 1949)

Having completed our run we found our way to the memorial.  I had two particular reasons for wanting to visit this memorial; firstly it has been mentioned on numerous occasions in books and periodicals I have read and secondly I have not come across a war memorial which is an art gallery.  Hospitals, statues, obelisks, crosses, sports grounds, social halls, gates - but no art gallery.

The memorial stands a little away from the town centre and is open most days.  There are displays of art and a soon-to-be-opened gift shop.  Staff are on hand to guide the visitor and are very welcoming and knowledgeable.

We visited on a day which was quite overcast and gloomy.  However the memorial's Hall of Memory relies largely on natural top-lighting supported by bronze pedestal lamps, so it had an appropriately sombre air today.  I would imagine that on a bright sunny day (if such things occur in Stockport!) it would look quite vibrant.  It is a memorial that will merit visits on different occasions to appreciate the different moods the light can bring.

The idea for the memorial was first mooted in 1919, at a meeting chaired by Sir Thomas Rowbotham, the same man who donated the land for Woodbank Park.  The trustees of the estate of Stockport chemist Samuel Kay, J.P. donated the site and stipulated:

the Memorial building should provide accomodation for an Art Gallery, and for assembly and meeting rooms for Technical and Higher Educational purposes, and for exhibitions in Science and Art and Technology, and all allied purposes, and to provide a site, if required, for the extension of the Municipal Secondary School.

The memorial was opened on the site of the old Stockport Grammar School in 1925 by Prince Henry, the entire amount for this stunning tribute having been raised by subscription by the people of Stockport, an amount of £24,000, the equivalent of over £1 million in 2015 terms. There is some rare British Pathe footage of the opening here  http://www.britishpathe.com/video/prince-henry-2/query/Memorial And yes, it's raining!  At the opening he said:

No tribute can be too great for those who, without flinching or hesitation, faced the horrors and deprivations of war, and willingly gave their lives for others and for the country they loved so well. 

The building was designed by Messers Halliday and Agate of Manchester.  It was intended as a space to encourage the love of the beautiful and has regular art exhibitions, lectures and other cultural events.

The main feature of the memorial is the Hall of Memory.  It is a semi-circular apse of Italian marble and the main statue was created by Gilbert Ledward of London.  It depicts Britannia standing with a flag, holding in her right hand a Sword of Honour and in the left a Palm of Victory.  The kneeling figure in front of her symbolises the men who fell in the war, having a broken sword.  A serpent is crushed beneath the shield showing the victory over evil.

Stockport Hall of Memory (c) Dawn Broom

The panels around the statue contain names of 2200 Stockport people who fell in the Great War, as well as those added after the Second World War and subsequent conflicts.  Above the panels are inscribed the words:

THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE

 

THEY DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR

 

LET THOSE WHO COME AFTER SEE THAT THEIR NAME BE NOT FORGOTTEN

 

 

How appropriate that, in 2015, the original vision of the Art Gallery and Memorial is still being preserved by the people of Stockport and that the Hall of Memory is beautifully kept to ensure that those names will not be forgotten.

Stanley Warren and the Changi Murals - Postscript

After the final mural was completed Stanley became gravely ill with dysentery and haemorrhaging and it was doubted he woud survive.  Padre Chambers said prayers of intercession for him in front of the mural of the Crucifixion and gradually he recovered.

It turned out that the Colonel-in-Charge if the British PoWs in the camp had asked for Stanley to be transferred back to the hospital in order to complete the murals, thus saving him from being sent to work on the Thai-Burma Railway, something that would probably have killed him off in his weakened state.

In May 1944 the Japanese had transferred the use of the building which contained the chapel into a store, almost completely destroying the mural of St Luke by demolishing a wall.

Both Stanley and Padre Chambers were transferred to Kranji prison.  Tragically in July 1945, just a month before liberation, Chambers intervened when a guard was badly beating a prisoner who was unable to carry a basket of stones.  For his efforts Chambers was so badly beaten himself that he suffered massive internal haemorrhaging and died shortly afterwards despite undergoing an impromptu operation carried out by a secret medical party. `The poor man died very quietly, very bravely', recalled Stanley.

Stanley Warren himself returned to England and took up a post as an Art teacher at a North London school. He assumed that the murals had been demolished or otherwise destroyed. 

However in 1958, the Daily Mirror reported the `rediscovery' of the murals, when distempter was removed from the walls to reveal the outlines of the paintings.  Stanley had not signed any of the paintings, and it was not known if the artist had survived the war, or indeed what nationality he had been.  There was no success in tracking down the anonymous artist until the next year, where the records of the RAF Changi Education Library revealed Stanley as the artist. 

Stanley Warren working on restoration, January 1964

This time the Daily Mirror reported his name, and one breaktime when he was sitting in the staffroom a colleague handed him a copy of the newspaper, and Stanley was shocked to see his painting of the Crucifixion in it.  The RAF, who now used the site, asked him to come and restore the murals.  This presented him with a dilemma.  To return would no doubt stir up very painful memories of his own treatment and the deaths of those close to him. 

I didn't immediately want to come.  I felt that there would be some sort of...trauma.  I'm trying to forget this you know...I tried so hard.  It took years really to eliminate the memories and fears...the long drawn out experience and really waiting for death. over three and a half years, it's a long time to wait to expect death.  And I really tried to forget...But of course I was never able to do that.

However he felt that the painting of the murals had saved his life, so he had a duty to return.  In all he made three trips to work on restoration; in 1963/4, 1982 and 1988.

Stanley Warren died at his home in Bridport, Dorset, in 1992 aged 75.

Today the murals are cared for by the Singapore government and move those who visit them.

Stanley Warren and the Changi Murals - St Luke

The final mural in the series is of St Luke the Physician.  It was painted at the request of Padre Chambers.  It shows an old St Luke in prison writing his Gospel for future generations of Christians with a boy handing him paper and guarded by a Roman centurion.  The prison walls are broken and the bars bent to show that whilst the physical body may be imprisoned, the spirit never can be.

However Stanley confessed to liking neither the style of the mural, containing too much grey, or the content, which was at odds with the theme of the other four murals in depicting scenes from the life of Christ.  He did bow to Padre Chambers' wish to have a representation of St Luke in the chapel named after him.

Stanley later said of Chambers:

I know at times he was quite heartbroken by the fact that he could do nothing except say a few kind words and give such comfort... [Padres]...were able to maintain a standard...a civilised conduct.  And of course the Padre strove to keep both spiritual and human values.  In this way, of course, the church played an important role in survival and stopping men from becoming totally changed. transformed.  As much as the murals contributed to that, I was glad.

Of his own experience of the painting, he said that during the course of his work he would sometimes rest his head against the wall to converse with God.  He described a feeling of elation when doing so, as if God had replied to his soul. `The strength to work on the murals was of a religious experience, an ecstasy which I had not known before and to that extent never to know again.'