The Sistine Chapel in Worthing

On my Friday visits to Mother she likes to take me somewhere to take photos. Today she did not disappoint. From the outside of this very ordinary looking church near Worthing - The English Martyrs Church, you would never guess there was this wonderful ceiling.

It was painted by Gary Bevans, a signwriter parishioner, who is a natural artist with no formal training, early in 1987 after a pilgrimage trip to Rome. He was so taken with the Sistine chapel he was inspired to paint it on the ceiling of his local church at home.

It is completed at 2/3 scale of the original. The colours match the newly cleaned ceiling in Rome.  It took Gary 5 years to complete, fitting in round his fulltime sign writing job.

The Ceiling was completed in 1993 and remains today the only full sized copy in the world, with the advantage that it is 30ft nearer to the ground than the original.