How the Guild Chapel was saved
Rodger Palmer - Guild Chapel Volunteer
Monday 17 July - White Swan Hotel - 6pm
Before retiring to Stratford-upon-Avon in 2015, Rodger worked as a Molecular Cytogeneticist at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, helping to diagnose genetic problems related to chromosome abnormalities. Since retiring his interests have moved towards history and he has volunteered for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust both at New Place and with the Collections Team and also for the Town Trust as a Guild Chapel volunteer. He has developed a strong interest in the history of the Guild Chapel, particularly its more recent history, and has been able develop this through research in the town archives.
By 1950 the Guild Chapel was in a sad state, resulting from decay, neglect and abuse of the building over several centuries. This talk will describe the extensive renovations to the Guild Chapel which took place during the second half of the 20th Century. It will be based largely on a set of over 500 letters between Levi Fox, who was managing the project for the Friends of the Guild Chapel, and the project architect Stephen Dykes Bower, the Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey.
