A Gosberton Clough church’s angels were given a spruce up on television for the BBC last week.
St Gilbert and St Hugh’s Church approached The Repair Shop to help restore four wooden angels carved by refugees who fled Belgium in 1916.
They were presented to St Gilbert & St Hugh’s parish church in Gosberton Clough as a gift in remembrance of a former vicar – Rev Hudson
They were originally mounted on the corners of an ornate altar surround designed, as was the church, by John Ninian Comper, perhaps the most famous British architect of the first half of the 20th Century.
Repainted in the 1960s they become a little battered over time and were broken in places and the paint faded.
When part of the altar was dismantled a few years later they were resigned to the church hall coal shed but were later rescued when they stood on the window ledges in the church, slowly looking a little worse for wear.
Brian Tidswell is one of the churchwardens for the church and in the summer of 2019, he and his wife Jane applied to The Repair Shop programme producers, Ricochet TV.
A trip to The Repair Shop at Weald and Downland Museum near Chichester beckoned for Brian and fellow churchwarden David Dickinson.
A special celebration concert was held in November at the church to welcome the angels, and they are now in pride of place by the altar under the west window, also designed by Comper.
The episode aired on BBC One last Wednesday (April 14) and is currently available on the BBC iPlayer.
Debbie Reynolds, the assistant to Reverend Ian Waters told The Voice that the angels had been moved to a secure location while the church is closed, despite not financially being worth that much.
“Once the Covid 19 crisis is over we plan to have a church open day so that people can come and see our famous angels,” she said.
