ALTAR FRONTALS AND EMBROIDERIES OF ST MARK'S CHURCH
St Mark's is very fortunate in the quality and diversity of its embroidered vestments and frontals. Many of them are the work of the leading designers of the late twentieth century, and consequently rare and valuable. Click on the words in blue to see an illustration - some of the files are large and may be slow to download.

HIGH ALTAR
WHITE - The festival frontal for Christmas and Easter was designed by the Architect and Winifred Harris-Jones. Worked by Phyllis Page in traditional damasks, it is white with gold orphreys (panels) and gold superfrontal embroidered in red. Three crowns represent the Kingship of Christ, his authority and rule.

Green This Trinity set is typical of the 1960s, and one of the best examples of large scale design (by Patricia Champness) we are likely to see: clear, bold and uncluttered, using a (then) non-traditional fabric, Irish hand-woven wool, dyed locally to the specific instructions of the architect Romilly Craze. Embroidered by Phyllis Page of Ewell, with silver thread and silk cord; ears of corn rise from a ground that has a suspicion of a fish design, thus representing the Church of Christ. The inspiration was John Masefield's poem "The Everlasting Mercy" (Songs of Praise 593):
The corn that makes the holy bread
By which the soul of man is fed,
The holy bread, the food unpriced,
Thy everlasting mercy, Christ.
RED - Designed and worked by Deanna Bailey and Audrey Tucker (Hammersmith College of Art and Building). This modern frontal symbolises the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit (as in the west window) by seven doves. Machine embroidery is worked on pink and scarlet Thai silk and crimson linen, applied to a background of deep crimson rep, and enriched with hand embroidery. This was done as a student examination piece, and as such, had to be bold and contemporary, though the style and colours may seem a little too 1960s nowadays. The Revd David Gerrard used to refer to it as "the vultures". The designs of stole and veil symbolise the Holy Spirit by tongues of fire. It is used for Whitsuntide (Pentecost) and for the festivals of saints who were martyred. Janet Jones gives more details of these Flames of Fire.

Purple - Designed by W.T. Carter Shapland; worked by Phyllis Page in traditional materials. This Advent frontal is emblazoned with the Greek letters Alpha and Omega signifying that Christ is the Beginning and the End. In the centre is a balance signifying Judgement.

Lent - Red symbols of the Passion on unbleached linen in the English tradition of a "Lent array".

Passiontide - Janet Jones describes the Passiontide Chasuble.

Children's Altar - this depicts the Lamb of God. Janet Jones has written an article on this Treasure Unnoticed.

LADY CHAPEL ALTAR
WHITE - The best Lady Chapel frontal supplies the text for the Annunciation window behind it: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord", words of sacrifice and oblation both in the mouth of the Mother of Our Lord and of the worshipper who offers himself to Christ in the Communion Service. Lettering designed by Winifred Harris-Jones, worked by Phyllis Page in gold on blue orphreys.

Red - The red Lady Chapel frontal is the work (as is the Lent set) of Lillian Dring, a colleague of Beryl Dean's, who may well also have worked on the Diocese of London's Jubilee Cope.

THE KNEELERS
The altar kneelers were designed by Winifred Harris-Jones of the Ladies' Work Society and made by St Mark's Altar Guild. Thirty ladies took approximately 4,350 hours to make the High Altar kneeler. This was worked in petit point on canvas, and shows in the centre a chalice, balanced by four lions of St Mark and two phoenix. Like the rebuilt church, the phoenix rises from the ashes of the pyre which burnt its predecessor. Between the symbols are intertwined lilies (for purity, the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel); roses and carnations (for love); passion flowers (emblems of Christ's Passion); and ears of wheat (for the Eucharist); with scrolls of gold and green leaves on a background of rich red. The Bishop's chair has a cushion depicting the Arms of the Province of Canterbury, and the kneeler has three mitres, since there were then three Bishops in Southwark diocese. The Vicar's kneeler is embroidered with the Arms of the Diocese of Southwark.

The Lady Chapel altar kneeler connects the life of the Virgin Mary with that of her Son. Its centre is the monogram of the Virgin, a crowned M; the Chi-Rho stands for Ch Rist, the badge that the Emperor Constantine put on his shields and helmets when he became a Christian in AD 3I7. At the ends loaves and fishes symbolise both the feeding of the five thousand and of those who kneel on weekdays at the altar rail. Stars of Bethlehem separate the symbols, which are held together with architectural strapping of a design used on old plaster ceilings.

The Lady Chapel pew kneelers were made to celebrate the year of the Butterfly 1981-2, since the butterfly is a symbol of the resurrection. Valerie Lawrence designed the kneelers and supervised the work, with the Revd David Gerrard. Two kneelers commemorate former parishioners and carry music for Alleluia and Gloria.

The Confessional kneeler shows the empty cross. The cloth draped over it indicates that the Body of Christ has been removed to the Tomb. To the left is the crowing cockerel, symbol of St Peter's denial, and to the right, spring flowers to show the resurrection.

Each pew in the nave has one embroidered kneeler, showing plants which have silver or white flowers. This set (also designed by Valerie Lawrence) was made in 1985, to celebrate the silver jubilee of the rebuilding of the church.

THE MOTHERS' UNION BANNER
The banner outside the Lady Chapel is the present banner, designed and made by Valerie Lawrence when the St Mark's and St Andrew's branches were combined. It shows the Lion of St Mark and the ship of St Andrew. The older banner, inside the Lady Chapel, was made when the church was rebuilt and has lilies for the Virgin Mary. Below it hangs a panel made by Janet Jones to commemorate the centenary of the St Andrew's and St Mark's branch of the Mothers' Union in 1993.

Taken partly from the pamphlet "Surbiton Parish Church: Beauty for Ashes" published in 1960 to celebrate the reconsecration of the rebuilt St Mark's Church; partly from the leaflet "A guide to St Mark's Church" by Anne Nichols, 1996; and partly from information supplied by Janet Jones and Anne Barker.

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