Evelyn Waugh’s youngest son Septimus, who died last year, was a carpenter and furniture maker whose greatest love was sculpting in wood. His final work was a gilded and painted wooden crucifix showing the Risen Christ

The last time I saw Septimus Waugh was a week before he died last year, on 25 October. I was able to show him the picture I’d taken of the crucifix behind the main altar in the Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Ilfracombe, north Devon. It was the last commission he had completed, and I wanted him to know we had seen it.

The crucifix was one of the commissions he was most satisfied with: not just the carving itself, but because the reordering of the church had involved family and friends and the efforts of many local people and parishioners in fund-raising for it. His son Tom, a professional sculptor and stonemason, had created the altar and font, and Xanthe Mosley, an artist, old friend and former neighbour, had repaired and repainted the Stations of the Cross.

From the outside, the church is architecturally not very impressive, but inside it has a powerful and prayerful atmosphere greatly enhanced by Septimus’ crucifix in its new position behind the main altar. The church reminds me, in a way, of Septimus’ own nature: friendly, un­assuming and practically orientated on the outside, but motivated by an interior life of calm humility and warmth of feeling.