National Gallery demolition workers find funder’s secret critical note
A note written by John Sainsbury in 1990 and hidden in concrete has been found by builders knocking down a pillar in a wing of the National Gallery.
The typed and signed letter left by the former chairman of the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain was found buried deep in a false column in the foyer of the Sainsbury Wing, which Mr Sainsbury funded along with his brothers John and Timothy.
The letter was slipped into the concrete of the pillar by Mr Sainsbury, who died in 2022 aged 94, in anticipation of it one day being knocked down.
In it, he thanks the builders for demolishing the two “unnecessary columns” built into the wing, which was opened in 1991.
The outside of the Sainsbury Wing. Pic: iStock
The letter, which was typed on Sainsbury’s supermarket notepaper and sealed in a plastic folder, was addressed “To those who find this note” and read: “If you have found this note you must be engaged in demolishing one of the false columns that have been placed in the foyer of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery.
“I believe that the false columns are a mistake of the architect and that we would live to regret our accepting this detail of his design.
“Let it be known that one of the donors of this building is absolutely delighted that your generation has decided to dispense with the unnecessary columns.”
The letter was found during the demolition last year and has now been deposited in the gallery’s archive as an historic document, according to The Art Newspaper.
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Mr Sainsbury’s widow Anya, who was at the site when her husband’s note was removed, told the newspaper: “I was so happy for John’s letter to be rediscovered after all these years, and I feel he would be relieved and delighted for the gallery’s new plans and the extra space they are creating.”
The demolition of the pillars is part of a £85m project, of which the Sainsbury family is the largest donor, to upgrade the wing and develop new facilities in the adjacent part of its main building.
Neil MacGregor, who was the director of the National Gallery when the Sainsbury Wing was built, told The Art Newspaper Mr Sainsbury had been critical of the pillars at the time of their construction.
“John Sainsbury argued that sightlines should be as unencumbered as possible, thinking the extra columns would conceal the entrance to the lecture theatre and temporary exhibition galleries, confusing the visitor,” he said.
But Mr MacGregor decided to go with the architect Robert Venturi’s design, who he said “had a coherent idea of the organic link between entrance hall, staircase and main galleries”.
The National Gallery stated in its planning documents for the latest work that the pillars restricted views to the lifts and obscured the entrance to the lecture theatre and temporary exhibition spaces.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
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Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
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