Letter of support

We are writing to express our whole-hearted support for the plan to install three sculptures on the Masonic Hall, 2 School Street, Weymouth.

The Masonic Hall (Grade II listed) was built in 1816 with façade of 1834 by C.B. Fookes. The architecture of the Hall is based on the Hephaisteion Temple in Athens, which although it had no pediment decoration, was embellished with a frieze of carved sculptural metopes. At present there is no such sculptural decoration on the Hall’s façade, although there is documentary evidence dating from 1886 that the pediment and the niches formerly contained sculpture (please see attached - below). The proposed sculptures of two figure groups (Faith and Hope), which would fill the empty niches, and pediment relief (Allegory of Charity) by the internationally renowned artist Michael Sandle RA would enhance and complete the original design of this prominent historic building.

Sandle’s sculptures represent the three cardinal virtues, and would also serve as a permanent memorial to those who sacrificed their lives in the two world wars. The central pediment relief recognizes Weymouth’s part in the First World War when the town looked after wounded Australian and New Zealand soldiers from the Gallipoli campaign and wounded Sikh soldiers from the Somme. It also depicts the town’s Second World War history as a departure port for American troops. The corners of the relief would show shot down German and British warplanes with a Luftwaffe Cross and an RAF roundel respectively. Masonic iconography, such as the forget-me-knot, are among the details included in the composition which further connect the sculpture to the building and its history.

At the same time these sculptures will celebrate the life and works of Michael Sandle, born in Weymouth in 1936. Sandle is widely regarded as the greatest sculptor of his generation and has been described as ‘one of the most original and powerful sculptors to emerge in Europe in the latter half of the twentieth century’*. His outstanding public commissions include the semi-architectural Siege Bell War Memorial (1988-1992) in Valletta, Malta and the International Seafarers Memorial (2000-01) at the Thames embankment in London. He is also widely represented in national and international museum collections, including Tate Britain. His sculpture is rooted in figurative tradition, in keeping with the architectural style of the Masonic Hall, but equally is accessible and relevant today. This celebrated artist has always been interested in depicting both the traumas and heroism of war. These sculptures installed on the Masonic Hall would portray both the grief and the heroism of Weymouth’s wartime history through the twentieth century and would make an impressive and valuable addition to the town’s cultural heritage.

Joanna Barnes and Dr Holly Trusted FSA

Co-chairs Public Statues and Sculpture Association

* Bryan Robertson (former Director of the Whitechapel Gallery), Introduction in John McEwen, The Sculpture of Michael Sandle, The Henry Moore Foundation in Association with Lund Humphris, Aldershot & Much Hadham, 2002, p. 8.