27 January 2022

Planning Department

Dorset Council

Dear Sirs,

Masonic Hall — Installation of Artwork to Front Elevation

Application Number P/FUL/2021/04073

In times of turbulence, hardship, and even survival, history demonstrates over and over again that it is the Arts that rise to the occasion, and save the day, however bleak, to remind us in the process that they exist to help us recover the sensation of life by lifting the spirit and calming the soul: And that when a truly magnificent opportunity arises it should be welcomed with open arms, not only by the inhabitants of the area for which it is intended, but by the country as a whole.

One such application for the installation of artwork to the front elevation of the Masonic Hall in School Street, Weymouth, to designs by Mr Michael Sandle RA, arguably this country's leading sculptor and an artist of incomparable talent and international renown, is a cultural event that should be applauded, supported and cherished, by our current generation as well as generations to come, not only as a great statement of the human spirit, but also as testimony of historical importance to the City of Weymouth, that played such a pivotal role in saving Britain in both World Wars of the twentieth century.

It is my fervent hope that such a planning application will receive the approbation that it so richly deserves.

Yours faithfully,

PETER PALUMBO

Lord Palumbo

Chairman of The Arts Council of Great Britain 1989-1994