The first things a visitor is likely to see on entering the cathedral are the stoup and the statue of the Welcoming Christ high on the facing pillar. Christ appears with opened widespread arms of welcome. It was erected in 1971 to mark (a year late!) the 800 year anniversary of the death of Thomas Becket. The work was by a local sculptor, William Cyril Day, and the carving is in the wood afrormosia. A similar image in bronze appears on the external face of the Christ Church gate.
Sources: mentioned briefly in passing in Canterbury Cathedral Chronicle 1971 (article by Gerald Peacock)
DL