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Millennium Font by Glenys Latham
In November 1999 the chapel committee, in considering an appropriate way of marking the Millennium, took up a suggestion made by member Jacqueline Worth, that a new font be commissioned. It was to be free standing, of wood, and have a removable metal bowl set in the top. The finance for the project would be raised by inviting donations: the fund was begun with monies donated in memory of member Ken Fishwick who died on November 14th 1999.
In early 2000 the then minister Rev Peter Hughes, made contact with Glenys Latham a sculptor and artist who lives in Westhoughton and who had been Head of Art at the old Leigh Grammar School and later, a lecturer at Wigan and Leigh College. Glenys was given the commission to create the new font: this proved a more than appropriate choice as Glenys’s grandfather, Samuel Croft, had been a member of chapel and had had his four daughters christened here. One of these daughters was Glenys’s mother. Thomas Croft and sons were builders and carpenters: the chisels Glenys used in the production of the font belonged to her grandfather.
Glenys provided a number of design thoughts and several meetings were held in chapel to discuss the project: by August 2000 both committee and Trustees had deliberated and given approval to the design which turned into the finished product. Work began in September and the font was installed during December. The font was dedicated during a special service on December 17th 2000 at which Glenys and her husband were honoured guests. A lunch followed.
Glenys Latham works in recovered wood: the timber used in the chapel font came from a roof beam that had been a barn demolished to make way for the then new runway at Manchester Airport. It is pitch pine and is probably older than the chapel. The sculptured font, inspired by the waves of the Pacific Ocean is a modern work of art and its presence in our chapel illustrates that places of worship are not static but move forward and grow, preserving the best of the past but embracing the best of the new.
We are all grateful to Glenys for whom this creation had been a labour of love and also grateful that the cast bronze that sits on top of the font has been her personal donation In memory of those forbears who had been chapel members. The font was first used on January 28th 2001 when Jessica Mae Chadwick was baptised together with her father Ian Kenneth Chadwick. |
