Royal Air Force
Following an appeal for funds by the Royal Air Force, the church was completely restored and was re-consecrated on 19 October 1958 to become the Central Church of the Royal Air Force.
Services are regularly held to commemorate prominent occasions of the RAF and its associated organisations. There are also features throughout and outside the building commemorating people and units of the RAF.
As part of the rebuilding, a Latin inscription was added over the main door of the church, translating as: "Built by Christopher Wren 1682. Destroyed by the thunderbolts of air warfare 1941. Restored by the Royal Air Force 1958."
Read more about this topic: St Clement Danes
Famous quotes containing the words royal, air and/or force:
“High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind,
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand
Show’rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised
To that bad eminence; and, from despair
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue
Vain war with Heav’n, and by success untaught,
His proud imaginations”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“There sighs, lamentations and loud wailings resounded through the starless air, so that at first it made me weep; strange tongues, horrible language, words of pain, tones of anger, voices loud and hoarse, and with these the sound of hands, made a tumult which is whirling through that air forever dark, as sand eddies in a whirlwind.”
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)
“Applause that comes thundering with such force you might think the audience merely suffers the music as an excuse for its ovations.”
—Greil Marcus (b. 1945)