Summary

As communicants return from receiving the sacrament and also as visitors leave church by the West door, they will now be able to see high on the West wall the stunning life-size statue of Christ Ascendant by one of Britain’s most eminent sculptors, Uli Nimptsch.

The story of the statue - the seven and a half year battle of the donor to get a design accepted and installed, the choosing of the sculptor and the subsequent two relocations make a fascinating story, but equally amazing is the life and work of the donor who up until now has remained  anonymous.

Now the statue is relocated to a fitting position and 40 years after her death, it seems fitting to also give recognition to the source of this most generous gift – Miss Helen Dey who lived in St. John’s Wood, London but worshipped at St. Wilfrid’s during her stays at the Old Coastguards Hotel (part of the Rock Gardens site and now demolished). She was evidently an extraordinary and determined lady who in 1927, at the early age of 39, was appointed Matron and Superintendent of Nursing of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, where she remained until 1949; she was awarded the OBE in 1937 and the CBE in 1946.  

The Design and Planning Years 1958 -1963

From research into the PCC minutes and correspondence of Miss Dey in the County Records office it would seem that her endeavour to have a statue of Christ Ascendant on the bare East wall above the altar was well under way by 1958. There is a letter from the Chichester Diocesan Art Council of 29^th April 1958 which favoured the idea of a figure of Ascended Christ but felt ‘great care had to be exercised in the choice of the design and sculptor’.

On 5^th May 1958 the Decorative Art Guild wrote on behalf of Miss Dey which indicated that plans had already been submitted and approved by the PCC, but the letter also showed the determination of their client (who was concerned about a deviation from the architect’s original design authorised by the PCC for steps to the sanctuary) and they wrote ‘my client is not the PCC and therefore a great deal of consideration will have to be given to her views’. Clearly the experience of 22 years as Matron of St. Bart’s was proving useful!

Procrastination over the statue continued until 1963 by which time there had been two schemes prepared and rejected by the Advisory Committee. On the 28^th January 1963 the PCC minutes confirm that a model by Uli Nimptsch had been seen by the Archdeacon and approved by the Arts Council. At a faculty petition on 7^th July 1963 Prof. Monnington of the Royal Academy confirmed that he had consulted colleagues in the Royal Academy and they recommended the commission go to Mr Uli Nimptsch whose design was for a 7.5 foot high statue in bronze.

Prior to this, Uli Nimptsch’s latest commission had been the statue of Lloyd George at the entrance lobby to the House of Commons completed in 1963, a commission recommended to the House by Sir Winston Churchill at his very last speech as Prime Minister in 1955. The commission was originally given to Sir Jacob Epstein but awarded to Nimptsch on Epstein’s death which indicates the eminence of Nimptsch at this time.

A faculty for Uli Nimptsch’s design for the Christ Ascendant statue at St. Wilfrid’s was finally granted on 2nd August 1963 at a cost of £4,000 and the dedication service by the Bishop of Chichester took place on Ascension Day, 7^th May, 1964.  It was reported in the Bognor Post at the time - “it has taken seven and a half years to get this done”, said the donor. “Believe me, during those years, that blank wall nearly got between me and my God”.

The First Relocation to the South Transept in 1977

The mother church of St. John's in London Road was closed in 1971 and demolished the following year and this resulted in the transfer of  certain fixtures and fittings including the reredos (screen behind the altar) to St. Wilfrid's Church. A problem loomed because the reredos had been enlarged some years before with  a removable canopy and this could not be fitted because of the location of the statue above it. At a meeting of the PCC on 24th November 1971 it was agreed 'that the reredos should be brought over and put on the wall as now is, and that subsequently, if necessary, the figure could be raised or removed'. However, discussion continued and at a PCC meeting held on 3rd July 1972, reference was made to a discussion about completion of the reredos following a recent questionnaire ‘but it was agreed that this should await the completion of the church’. It is interesting that as late as 1972 there was still hopes of finishing the church which to this day remains unfinished – missing 3 of the 5 bays, the bell tower and baptistery of the original design. The controversy over relocation of the statue continued until on the 1^st November 1976 the PCC agreed to relocate the statue and a faculty was granted on the 7th March 1977 'for permission to remove the figure of Christ Ascendant from the East Wall, to enable the reredos transferred from St. John's church in 1971 to be completed by the addition of the canopy'.

The Second Relocation to the West Wall in 2008

In 2008 following lengthy discussions with the Archdeacon of Chichester and the Diocesan Advisory Committee, it was finally agreed to relocate the statue on the West wall high above the entrance. The work was completed in September 2008.

It is rare to have the Ascension of Jesus, a cornerstone of our faith, depicted in this way and at last, 44 years after its original installation above the altar on the East wall and 31 years after being relocated to a less conspicuous location in the South Transept, that the statue is now relocated once again to a prime position in our Church. We hope too that Miss Dey, who died in 1968 (the requiem mass was at St. Wilfrid’s church on 12^th June 1968) would approve.

Uli Nimptsch     

Dedication Service 7th May 1964

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