The Compass Peace Wheel
This story begins when a local newspaper interviewed local
artist Alex Prowse to feature in the Who's Who column.
To the question,if you were Mayor for the day,what would
you do and why?
Alex replied that he would like to organise a festival of
light at Little Venice for people from different religious
denominations.
In April 2004 after a trip to the Ashram of Sai Baba in
Andhra Pradesh, India.
Alex had the idea of creating a basic design to portray the
unity of faiths as he had seen during the trip.
He constructed a large replica of a ships wheel the face of
which he painted with multi faith symbols.
In the centre is a view of Warwick Avenue Bridge Little
Venice,
the idea being, life is a bridge to cross over, and the
power of faith and trust will see you through,
the deep blue of the water and sky seen as divine elements.
A passer by said it reminded him of a compass rose and the
piece had its name, "The Compass Peace Wheel"!
The wheel is mounted on the fore deck of Barge Crook ( its
original name )
a restored Regents Canal Barge moored in Brownings Pool.
An opportunity to launch the idea arose during the May Day
Bank Holiday Cavalcade celebrations at Little Venice
when The Right Worshipful Lord Mayor of Westminster Jan
Prendergast and Father Gary Bradley,
agreed to be photographed at the helm!. Hopefully the first
of many, people from different cultures and continents.
The resulting collection of photographs can be viewed on
this web site