Winning Cross Designs blessed at St Andrew's Church

7th Oct, 2008, by J Owens

Thanks to a donation from St Mary's Parochial Church Council two Year 10 Kings of Wessex girls had their winning cross designs blessed in St Andrew's Church at last week's school Harvest Church Service led by Rev. John Angle, and St Mary's PCC were represented by Mrs Venetia Hopkins.

Abigail Marshall and Niamh Wrench won a Design Technology design competition sponsored by St Mary's Parochial Church Council for one cross to be wall mounted and the second to be portable for assemblies and church services. The crosses were manufactured by Kings' Design Technology Technician Chris Rhodes who spent several weeks crafting the special additions to the school.

Headteacher Chris Richardson said, "This was a wonderful joint venture between St Mary's Parochial Church Council and our school, and I am very grateful to St Mary's for their generosity that will be valued by our young people for many years to come."

Using her imagination and drawing style, the cross in Abigail's design is made of maple wood, with the halo in beech wood. Whilst the halo and hand-cut copper wings represent an angel, the Christian dove design was laser cut onto the wooden cross to represent peace.

Niamh's free-standing cross is made of Iroco wood that has been CNC milled, overlaid with copper and etched into her winning design. The circle behind the cross is made of Old American Black Walnut wood. Niamh's design was inspired by research in her artist father's Art Deco/Nouveau books.

Both Abigail and Niamh were delighted by the final creation that was perfected using processes practised by students in school for their Product Design course.

The Kings of Wessex School is a Church of England school with Specialist Technology College Status and church services are held at St Andrew's Church throughout the school year.

Photo - Abigail Marshall and Niamh Wrench
Chris Rhodes, Design Technology Technician
Rev. John Angle
Shireen Pascoe, Subject Leader for Design Technology