7th November 2017
Arriving at Paddington Station last week (in my duffel coat like a certain famous literary bear) I was greeted with a rather unexpected fanfare. It was not for me of course. As I reached the concourse I saw we were all being treated by a concert by the band of Guardsmen you see above. They were raising funds for Remembrance Day on 11th November next.
Coincidentally, I am just completing a painting of our local war memorial, still decorated with its poppy wreaths from last year. It's quite a striking memorial for a village of only 1500 people standing on the green with a magnificent view of a green valley and the sea beyond. I hope to have the painting finished for Remembrance Day.
In Watford the 1914-18 war memorial was the Peace Memorial Hospital, which was built by subscription. Some years ago the NHS wanted to sell the site for offices but I am proud to say the citizens of Watford rebelled. They insisted that the building must be retained as it is the actual Memorial and it must be used for a medical purpose. It is now known as the Peace Hospice and has very successfully been transformed into a charity which I am very happy to support.
I have a personal interest in the building because it used to have in front of it the Peace Memorial Statues created by Mary Bromet, an internationally renowned sculptress in her day.
The statues were created more or less in my mother's kitchen. The Bromets' house, Lime Lodge, was demolished in the 1960s to make way for a row of new houses, one of which was bought by my parents. Mary Bromet used her conservatory as a studio - it was quite a big one as you can see the statues are life sized - which stood on the site of our house.
I used to paint in my parent's conservatory, a rather more modest one, and rather hoped some of her extraordinary talent would rub off on me.
Her statues were moved from their imposing position in front of the Peace Memorial Hospital to allow for the road-widening scheme and were moved to a dark corner opposite the library. They have recently been put back up on their plinth and there is some talk of putting them in the new square that is currently under development in the town centre.
The statues are of three naked young men representing Peace, Victory and Freedom. My friend's father used to try and kid me he was the model for them although he could only just have been born when they were created. I used to give him The Look which only teenage girls can do which made him laugh. He was, however, born around the corner in Field Road so knew the Bromets and where the studio was. It was he who told me all about it.
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