Renowned artist gives boost to help save historic church spire

One of the north west’s best-selling contemporary artists has come to the aid of a historic Wigan church with a new poster celebrating the community. Eric Jackson has created dozens of tongue-in-cheek paintings of places across the region – as well as humorous artworks about northern life – and has now painted one for the village of Standish to raise money for the restoration of St Wilfrid’s Church spire.

Artist Eric has sold thousands of his colourful Statement Artworks posters and will now give half of the profits of his Standish one to the Save Standish Spire appeal, which is aiming to raise £600,000 to renovate the Grade I-listed building. His affectionate artwork – which was commissioned by Standish Voice, the village’s neighbourhood forum – features the medieval church and iconic spire, celebrating ‘Stylish Standish’ as ‘the high point’ of Wigan, with it being ‘a-spire-ational but not stand-off-ish!’.

Eric said: “When I heard that this beautiful, historic building desperately needed funds for renovation, I knew I had to help. I’ve made dozens of paintings of communities in Greater Manchester and beyond, including Wigan, but not Standish, and when I was approached by Standish Voice to create one, it seemed the best way to support this great project.”

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The church, rebuilt in the 1580s, was described by the authors of Buildings of England as “one of the most interesting churches in Lancashire”, but architects recently discovered the need for vital repairs to the 130ft spire. Rev Andrew Holliday, Rector of St Wilfrid’s CE Church, said: “We are really grateful to Eric for helping us out with fundraising and creating a humorous portrayal of Standish.

"We definitely think our church spire is the high point of Wigan – after all, it is the only Grade I-listed building in the borough, and has a special place in the hearts of everyone who lives in our village. We have had wonderful support from the community in raising money to renovate the spire and along with a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we are confident we can start this work next year.

“Hopefully, this artwork will help us reach our fundraising target with people wanting to hang this great poster on their walls and know they have helped to preserve our historic church when they look at it.” Eric has donated a unique A1 canvas print of the poster, signed by him in a glass frame, which will be auctioned off by the appeal.

Paul Ogden, vice-chair of Standish Voice, said: “You can spot Eric’s fantastic artworks all across Greater Manchester with their colourful depictions and northern humour, but we didn’t have one for Standish. We thought the renovation of the spire was a great opportunity to fix that and Eric was more than happy to obilige. It is good to know he doesn’t think us Standishers are standoffish!”

To buy one of the Standish posters, which come framed and unframed in sizes ranging from A4 to A1, contact church’s parish office and it will send the costings, which include postage and packing, on stwilfridsparish@outlook.com

To contribute directly to the spire appeal, follow this link to the church’s Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/save-standish-spire or send a cheque with’ Spire’ on the back to The Parish Office, St Wilfrid's Parish Hall, Church Street, Standish, Wigan, WN6 0JT.