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to a
forward-pointing gallery
of
(unofficial & everyday)
saints		  
       
   
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hughgibbons@just1.org.uk
www.just1.org.uk/adelantegallery
is one of the artful activities of Hugh
and

 www.just1.org.uk

Updated
25 October 2024

"ADELANTE! LET US GO FORWARD!”
called out Archbishop Oscar Romero when soldiers in El Salvador blocked the funeral procession of his assassinated friend Fr Utilio Grande. And onwards they walked, around the rifles.

Much admired round the world by people of all faiths and none, Romero later became an official Catholic Saint.

But most people can point to what you might call catholic Unofficial Saints: inspirers, encouragers, uplifters, initiators, wave-makers; nearby or far off; who see things can change for the better; helping others go forwards by words or action. And that's what the Adelante Gallery is about.

"The Saints Next Door”, says Pope Francis – one of the many voices to enjoy by anyone walking around the four faces of the 2+ metre tall Adelante Gallery.

 

Adelante is home-made. By a very amateur artist, carpenter and designer - a former CAFOD volunteer. Squeezed in his garage at home. But something seriously different to enjoy, appreciate and learn from. And very ecumenical. On wheels.

 

Adelante is unlike other galleries - in size, shape, content, and purpose. It's not fixed in one place, has no admission charges or cafe, with exhibits that visitors are welcome to touch.

This Gallery is a tall, square, freestanding, hollow, wooden column - packed with graphics and quotes; some on hanging panels steadied by small magnets. The crosspiece is made of balsa wood, carrying a vintage sickle and a WW2 cannon shell.

 

Other exhibits include socks sent by Churches Together in England; a carpenter's pencil from the TUC; breathing space by a Quaker school; earth from a German church and memorial garden, Central Park NY and an airfield in Northamptonshire; and a fragment of an historic 1943 Flying Fortress.

 

Oh, and an Alphabet of Unofficial Saints.  And the word for Forward in 24 different languages.

 

The Gallery carries an uncommon diversity of voices on behalf of common humanity, including Oscar Romero, Malala Yousafzai, Henri Dunant's candlelit legacy, Kurt Vonnegut on the Beatitudes, Jo Cox MP's nameplate in a Brussels square, Desmond Tutu's elephant, Daniel Berrigan's office poster, and Mary Robinson on human rights.  

You'll see word of The Forgiveness Project, NGOs in Africa and Guatemala, reporters on the Mexico-US border, successors to Bartolomeo de las Casas, The Great Get-Together, a student protester in El Salvador, the work of conservators, the West Door of Westminster Abbey, and a tribute to People Who Make Waves.

 

Gallery creator Hugh Gibbons invited several people to have a small but cheery part. The balsa wood was funded by Pax Christi. The FairTrade socks came from Churches Together in England. And the carpenter’s pencil from Frances O’Grady of the TUC recognises that trade unions around the world are among Romero’s many admirers.

 

The Gallery's been put to use by secondary and primary schools and parishes.

 

Adelante!

 
For easy reading
on screen or page
there's this updated PDF
Adelante Guide
with current contents,
words and pictures

 

NB
Forward-pointing for Romero MAC and other Coventry schools and parishes all all sorts
from Autumn 2024 after the Gallery had a great Reception at Cardiinal Wiseman School - the secondary alongside seven primaries in the Academy

 

This PDF has ideas on how to put Adelante to use




 

 



The Gallery comes in several sections
that are easy to lift and assemble.
Small castor wheels on the base mean that it's easy to move around in a church or school setting - and travel around in the back of a family car.

Here's the line-up of detachable panels after its stay with Chaplain Fiona (to the left of Hugh) at St Edmund's School in Portsmouth - with other helpers Anne Gibbons, a school support worker, and a new assistant chaplain.

The Adelante Gallery is unusual in being compact and built to travel around - in a family car:

  • The solid 600mm square solid wood base is on rollers

  • Two plywood boxes slot and stack to make the column. The bottom one is held in place by small bolts

  • The lightweight balsa crosspiece has a sickle firmly fixed, and hangs on bolts

  • The four wooden long panels - coloured to match the four faces - hand from small bolts and are held in place by magnets

  • Likewise the two smaller balsa-based panels

  • The small welcome panel fits on the base, held in place by a brush

  • The Angel carries the Adelante signpost, placed wherever it suitable - eg on the top of the Gallery

Made with secondary schools, churches and other communities in mind, The Adelante Gallery has visited many since 2018 - in Wokingham, Bracknell, Ascot, Portsmouth, Waterlooville, Leigh Park, Maidenhead, Windsor and Reading. In October 2024 Adelante arrived at its long-promised permanent home with the Romero Catholic Academy in Coventry - with its secondary and seven primary schools. The idea is that Adelante will in time visit each - and maybe find its way to others around.


 In the hall at English Martyrs Church Reading - with official saints and flags of the world on the walls

 The Gallery's very ecumenical - so it happily fitted into a Sunday service at All Souls CofE Church in South Ascot

Ready to welcome the congregation at St Edmund Campion Church in Maidenhead - before being rolled across the car park for a stay with the Primary School.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR GALLERY SETTING UP AND TRAVEL
1-page PDF to download
or browse on-screen


The Chaplain at St Oscar Romero School in Worthing showed that the Gallery does indeed fit in the back of a small car - handy when he took it out for visits to local primaries.



How tall is the Gallery?  About a deacon and an eighth, judging by this picture of Tom Hiney in the Lady Chapel of St Edward the Confessor Church in Windsor in August 2023. He's about 6'4", and a great help in lifting the parts into place.






       
 

< OFFICIAL MEETS UNOFFICIAL IN THE CATHEDRAL...
Trustee of the ecumenical UK Archbishop Romero Trust, Stephen Davies got the full 4-metres-round tour of the Gallery during a fine Romero afternoon on 24 November 2018 at St John's Cathedral in Portsmouth. The event was organised by Mugeni Sumba of Oaklands College in Waterlooville. As well as a talk by Stephen, there was a Thanksgiving Mass for the Canonisation of St Romero, with Bishop Philip Egan being the main celebrant.

...BEFORE ITS OPENING VISITS TO SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES
Afterwards, the Gallery was loaded into the back of a family car heading for Oaklands, where it over-wintered and was put to use by the school in their Oscar Romero Award Programme. This included outvisits to local primaries and parishes - ending at the lovely St Michael and All Angels at Leigh Park (below). There the Gallery was stationed by the choir (to the right of the guitarist tuning up!) It was able to play a part in the Creation Mass arranged with CAFOD Portsmouth.

  

Adelante had return visit to the Cathedral in November 2023, this time in St Patrick's Chapel - before a long stay in chapel at St Edmund's School along the road.
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