St Catherine’s Church in Sindlesham was built in 1846 so this year there are celebrations to mark the 175th anniversary of its Consecration by the then Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce.
We have already held a very successful flower festival and, later in June, a local historian, Oliver Bing, gave a talk on the history of the church and of Bearwood. We hope he will come again to bring us up to more recent times and to include more of the history of the Walter family.
During the plans for the anniversary, we have been in touch with several members of the family and two granddaughters of Stephen Walter have very kindly donated some of his paintings to be sold to raise funds to help towards renewing the lighting and other electrical systems in the church.
Many have already been sold but there are still a few available and they present a unique opportunity to own a piece of Walter family history.
Stephen Walter, a great grandson of John Walter I, founder of The Times newspaper, was born in the family home, Bearwood, in 1878 and lived the majority of his 96 years in Wokingham, though he travelled widely.
Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he obtained a Degree from the Honour School of Natural Sciences, he also had a great interest in sport, boxing for the university against Cambridge in 1898.
In 1904, he was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn and, a few years later, he followed the family and joined The Times, where he remained for many years, apart from serving in the RNVR during the First World War.
In 1937, he went to Kenya, where he lived and worked and it was during this time that he developed his artistic talent and painting became his passion. He returned to England in 1949 and, the following year, was given the RHS Grenfell Award in paintings.
The pictures are small and delicate – and very decorative! The remaining pictures are £50 each. For all enquiries, please contact: the175th@outlook.com
Roberta Tweedy
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