Overlooked Britain Lucinda Lambton
There is an exquisite pleasure – or, in this case, pain – to come upon a sight so out of context that it cannot be true. You reason that it must be an illusion but, nevertheless, there it is, perforce infusing you with incredulous magic.
Such was the case in St Leonard’s Church at Semley in Wiltshire, originally dating from the 1000s and largely rebuilt in the mid to late 1800s. There I was, amidst particularly beautiful countryside on the Dorset border, when, in the Lady
Chapel, I suddenly saw a gigantic, stained glass window of three lights, swirled about by paintings of semi-abstract flowers, along with others of almost botanic clarity, surrounding words that were startlingly unexpected: WPC YVONNE FLETCHER 1958-1984 KILLED ON DUTY ST JAMES’S SQUARE LONDON. In their picturesque centre is a ‘METROPOLITAN EIIR POLICE’ badge of a star topped by a crown.
WPC Fletcher was shot in the back with an automatic weapon outside the Libyan embassy, while policing an anti-gaddafi demonstration, on 17th April 1984.
It is strange indeed when such a connection with this remote spot suddenly springs to the fore. There are umpteen of us in central London who feel they know and revere Yvonne Fletcher, as they frequently pass her memorial marking the spot where she
was slain. I certainly do. The pavement has been widened to allow people to gather to pay their respects and, for the past thirty-three years, it has never, ever, been without flowers.
Yet Semley is where WPC Fletcher was born, and where this magnificent window was made in her memory. It was paid for by the Police Memorial Trust, a charity created to commemorate British police officers killed in the line of duty; founded, of all people, by Michael Winner.
Tiny WPC Fletcher – five foot two – was Britain’s smallest WPC. ‘She was a diamond,’ said her Chief Superintendent. ‘Always smiling and willing to help anybody.’ On 1st February 1985, Margaret Thatcher unveiled the granite and Portland stone pillar in London, as a large crowd gathered and a police helicopter hovered overhead.
The window in Wiltshire was dedicated three years later by the Bishop of Salisbury. It was designed by artist Henry Haig, a painter and sculptor, often abstract, who worked at the Royal College of Art – where he was particularly praised for his stained glass.
In Semley, at the base of the lights, surrounding the dedication, are periwinkles and gentians, anemones and dandelions with many and various leaves. There is a curiously pleasing background of black and white checks.
After all this time, with sleuthing by the Metropolitan Police in Britain and Libya – WPC Fletcher’s mother, Queenie, even went to see Gaddafi – the killer, or killers, have yet to be brought to justice.
Henry Haig believed that the purpose of stained glass in a church was to ‘make eternal truths visible through the energy of transmitted light. Light itself,’ he held, ‘was a constant reminder of the power of God, the light of the universe.’
After all, the first words of God in the Bible are ‘Let there be light’!