SVP Sponsored Walk - Bristol to Bath

In the fund raising spirit the SVP at St. Mary-on-the-Quay decided to embark on their little sponsored walk on 10th October along the Bristol and Bath Railway Path, which was constructed on the bed of the former Midland Railway by cycling charity Sustrans between 1979 and 1986. The Path is a three metre wide tarmaced surface from end to end.

To the veteran walkers 15 miles may sound an easy task but to some of us this was a first time challenge! Armed with our water bottles and jolly spirit, Adrian and I were supported by Fr. Nico and Geraldine.

For a Saturday in October gleaming with sunshine throughout our journey from St. Mary’s to Bath, we heartily sang to iron out the miles. Adrian generously adjusted his walk to our snail pace, enjoying the abundance of myriad coloured autumn leaves on the trees and the symphony of birdsong.

We eventually stopped at ‘The Jolly Sailor’ pub in Saltford for our afternoon tea, more appropriately our lunch and a much needed two-hour rest, especially for Fr. Nico who had bravely soldiered on despite having been in agony with his knee playing up. Thankfully Geraldine put on her ‘nurse’ hat and kindly brought the ice to the rescue at the pub!

Please click the album to see more photos:

SVP Sponsored Walk

Well, we made it and achieved a creditable contribution to the Redecoration fund at St. Mary’s. The SVP would like to say a big thank you to all our friends at St. Mary’s who encouraged and supported us so generously. (Guay Tan)

The St Mary's Paintings (History 1)

With building work nearing completion the decoration well under way, it seemed the appropriate time to do something about three large paintings in the gallery. As the large central painting had been damaged by the building workers during repairs to the gallery, Bill Mercer decided to arrange for its restoration and it was taken down and sent to Alexander Galleries, in Whiteladies Road.

The other two were later removed by decorators and brought into the sacristy. The picture of Our Lady is a late 19th century copy of a painting by Murillo, a late 17th century Spanish artist- the original was on display in London recently. The painting of the Infant Christ with St. Joseph is a work of the late 19th century and although not a copy of an earlier painting is of very poor quality.

With the central picture away, I started on the other two. After cleaning off much dirt and old varnish, I was able to see their general condition. Both paintings have been badly treated in the past – much of the foreground of St. Joseph had been erased and had been touched in with black household paint. This I removed and retouched the missing grass and rocks in more suitable colours.

The painting of our Lady was in a similar state, but in addition the copyist had painted only the main figure and attending cherubs. He had not put in the sky background that is in the original. Had the background been a lighter shade of grey, and not partly erased, I would have been content, but the figure of our Lady was lost in this messy background so I decided to paint in the missing sky. I had to work fast as the decorators were ready to re-hang them and had already painted the frames for them. It is not the usual thing to add to another artist’s work, but as this one was only a poor quality studio copy, and the original having a sky, I decided that it would be a visual improvement.

Of the three paintings, the large central one has responded best to cleaning. The lighter colours are purer and it is of better quality than the other two. All three pictures are probably the work of an Italian studio, where artists of varying skills would produce pictures for 19th century tourists to send home to their churches. Due to their size and subject, this kind of painting has little commercial value.

(Charles Knott, Parish Magazine, “A.M.D.G. ST. MARY-ON-THE-QUAY BRISTOL”, Vol. 32 No. 9, September 1983, pp. 1 & 15).