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| Academy president returns 'home' - to Codsall |
| Sir Charles Wheeler, president of the Royal Academy since 1956, returned to Codsall yesterday afternoon to view a plaque erected in his honour on The Cottage, the house where he was born in Church-road, on March 14, 1892. Sir Charles drove up to the red brick and black and white half-timbered cottage with Lady Wheeler, his elder brother, Mr. John Wheeler, and his niece Mrs J. Baugh. The house has been the home of Mr John Harness and his wife, the former actress Miss Penelope Shaw, forthe past three and a half years. it was they who agreed that the bronze plaque should be placed near the front door. The plaque, subscribed for by local residents and Codsall Parish Council, was approved by Sir Charles some time ago. |
| Greeting Sir Charles, Mr. G. Wood-ward, chairman of both Codsall parish and Seisdon rural district councils, said Sir Charles was a person who delighted in creating things for the public to see and he had been asked to Codsall on this occasion as a tribute. Sir Charles said that for him it was a unique occasion. "Usually a plaque is not erected until after one's death. To view one during one's lifetime is a little like a man reading his own obituary." He was glad, not only that his name was now inscribed in bronze, but also that the name of the Royal Academy, which for 200 years had encouraged the arts, had been brought to his native village and that its name should be in Codsall for "many years to come." EXPRESS & STAR |
