We need your help.  Please help us  bring a powerful series of paintings by acclaimed British artist Chris Gollon to Sir John Soane’s Church of St John on Bethnal Green in London’s East End . Please support us – it's a fantastic and courageous project and really will make history. Join us, please!

The story that we need your help to finish, started with St John’s   rector  Alan Green  seeing Chris’s work in a gallery window. Struck by it’s drama and  poignancy, he asked Chris if he would accept a commission to paint – at cost price – 14 dramatic paintings for the “Stations of the Cross”. Chris agreed.

With a lot of hard work and local fundraising, the church has managed to raise enough funds for 9 of the series of  14 paintings. Chris is ready to complete the remaining works but we urgently need help to fund them.   The finished  paintings will be available for all to see, dramatically in situ in perpetuity in this grade-one listed church. It's an ambitious project and an exciting one,

Unusually for Stations of the Cross, Chris’s paintings will vary in size and be site-specific, depending on the architectural space and artist’s composition, the smallest canvas being two by three feet. Each tells part of the story of Christ’s passion, from condemnation to crucifixion.

 Nine paintings have  been funded by donations or individual patrons. But now we desperately need to raise £20,000 for the final five.

 We’re appealing for your help towards securing this art for Bethnal Green. Any donation is most welcome and all will be recorded in a Roll of Honour book that will be placed in the church, inscribed with the names and messages left with your donations on this page. .

 Each station  costs £4,000 which includes security lighting, and all other costs. Paintings funded by individual patrons or companies will have a brass plaque set on the frame in recognition, with their chosen inscription or dedication. A special unveiling for the patron at St John’s will also be offered when the painting is completed.  If you are interested in sponsoring an entire painting, please email gaynorjb1@msn.com  or write to Gaynor c/o St John’s Rectory, 30 Victoria Park Square, London E2 9PB, or telephone 0870 850 5512 .

An extraordinary gift from an extraordinary artist Your support will help make history, by bringing together an important , acclaimed contemporary British artist and an iconic East End church. Each work takes 2-3 months to research and complete, and Chris’s generosity in doing these paintings at cost is an extraordinary gift from an extraordinary artist.  (You can see more of Chris’s work on www.chrisgollon.com under the Commissions page.)

One of only 3 churches designed by Soane, St John on Bethnal Green is undergoing major restoration. Next to the Museum of Childhood , it has long been an important focal point for the local community, often through the hardest times. It stands just feet away from the site of the worst single civilian tragedy of WW2, when 173 people were crushed to death trying to get into the Underground for shelter during the Blitz, and we plan to dedicate one of the stations to their memory.

It will be a fitting home for art that will be of national – if not international - importance. We've had a terrific response from local school children of all faiths who've been brought to see the work so far. But we do need more help to make the last paintings possible. Please help us now and follow the “donate now” button on this page.

 Thank you so much.

Alan, Chris, Gaynor and David