Giving something back to the Warneford, by Joanna Tulloch
Read about the memories of previous service users across the ages
After having been admitted as an inpatient to the Warneford eight times during the nineties and noughties, I felt I would like to give something back in return for the care I had received there. Spending time in hospital was something I was quite well acquainted with, having been an inpatient in many other hospitals in my youth, including a long stay in a clinic in Paris, but the Warneford was special, so I jumped at the chance of painting an icon for the refurbishment of the chapel which took place shortly after I stopped being an inpatient and continued with outpatient care, which is still the case.
I am a preacher, poet, and painter but had recently switched from watercolours to therigours of egg tempera, when I started having lessons in icon painting with variousiconographers, the first of whom was in Russia. When I undertook the icon, it wasthe largest I had ever painted and also the first I had painted for anyone else.
A lot of thought went into the image to be used. In the end I chose an ancient Russian icon called ‘The Angel with Golden Hair’, as it would be possible for people of all faiths and none to feel themselves in the presence of an angel, a benevolent figure who could be Gabriel, the bringer of good news to those who were in despair, or could equally be the healer Raphael, or even a person’s own guardian angel.
I hope that the old chapel, where the icon hangs, will retain some of these meanings for service users, and be a blessing to them; if this is not possible, the icon should be moved to the new interfaith area.
