Day 78: Secret Worthing

Looks like I am definitely going to manage to complete my journey on the edge around the coast in 80 days as planned, but the first bit up to Suffolk and the last bit across the south has been rushed. Perhaps I should have done it in 100 days instead to have given myself more time.

Today I am looking for the Sistine Chapel.
Sistine Chapel? Isn’t that in Italy?
Yep but there is a 2/3 version painted on the ceiling of a church in Goring on Sea West Worthing. Jeremy (my brother) living here knew nothing about it but we went looking. The first church in Goring had a small mural which, although charming in its own way, was not what I had expected at all.  Unruly Sat. Nav was useless. She did not recognise Sistine Chapel Goring on Sea as a point of interest worthy of her computer but we found it.

From the outside, The English Martyrs Church in Goring didn’t really look as if it contained a treasure of this magnitude. To be kind it looked like a community centre and to be unkind and this close to Shoreham, a small aircraft hanger.

The original ceiling in Rome was painted in the 16^th century by Michelangelo. This one was painted in 1987 -1993 by a signwriter with no formal art training, called Gary Bevans.

Gary had been to Rome on a pilgrimage in 1987 and noticed that the Sistine chapel ceiling was almost the same size and shape as that of his local parish church in Sussex. On his return he asked permission to paint a copy and when this was granted he began.

It took him five and a half years and has now been rated one of the top of Worthing’s tourist attractions on Trip Advisor. Yet few people have heard of it or seen it locally. When the ceiling in Rome was cleaned, Gary had to redo some of his work to match the brilliance of the revealed clean colours. Frankly I think he is brilliant!

Gary serves as a deacon in the church and to celebrate his ordination he painted a mural of Noah’s ark for the children in a modern graphical style. A man of many talents.

The church is quite beautiful inside. Apart from the stunning ceiling it has wonderful stained glass rescued from a convent that was closing and other artefacts well worth seeing.

From there we went to Beach House Park. It’s a lovely green space with formal gardens and bowling lawns that used to be the site for the National Bowls Championships both national and international. The greens are wonderful. No idea why they lost the championship status.

In the park is probably the only memorial to carrier pigeons from World War 11 in existence.

Sadly the original sculptured pigeons have been stolen but the message is clear.

June 30^th 1916 was the day that the men of the South Downs Battalion, fought at the disastrous Battle of the Somme. The park had several memorials to that day, an informal one and a stone memorial too. 

There was a fine new bench with what looks like laser cut ironwork depicting soldiers on it and a flower bed planted up in the form of the regimental badge. 

One of the two soldiers singled out for commemoration,  Nelson Victor Carter VC,  was born in Eastbourne. He was the company Sergeant Major and was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravely and for saving several casualties under fire before he was mortally wounded. Although he is buried in France, there is a blue plaque in his memory on his home at 33 Greys Road a few yards from my own house.

So even on the last few days of my trip there is a soldier asking to be remembered.

Finally there is a World War I vegetable plot planted up on the park presumably by the council The vegetables looked wonderful. I was surprised they hadn’t been stolen too!!!

Back to Jeremy and a double dish of Trifle. 

My brother is the trifle King of England whose trifle prowess is celebrated as far away as Columbia! Truly.