After months of putting pencil to paper….building up the composition… chasing out the leadlines….cutting and building…. soldering and polishing.

So… came the day. Days only before Easter. And very carefully the panels were stowed in Peter’s van (of Cumbria Stained Glass) and we made the journey to Penrith. A nail biting journey… WILL IT FIT? (The phrase that screams in every glass makers head on fitting day).

IT DID! (So I don’t need to expand on t h i s !) Only on h o w it went….

How happy do I look, that the panels just slotted in a treat! It was a clever overlapping lead system and wiring on to the original ‘sound’ support bars…(and lots of repeated careful measuring and checking and sweating by me throughout this whole design and build process!!!) You need many hands (only 3 pairs) on deck to gently lift, locate and then rock and lock the panels into place.

Rocking the final semicircular piece into position was M A G I C! Amazing how secure the panels felt just with gravity and the tie wires… but a few extra wooden wedges from Peter and Charlotte, before lime-mortaring into place helped us step back and admire.

This is the biggest window I have done. The first that I have fitted into stone. The first that I have built and connected together in this way. The most important composition I have ever put together. Words can barely explain how I feel about this project. Trust. Belief. Beauty. Joy. Thanks.

Yes, mostly thanks. Thanks for being given the opportunity. Thank you to Colin, the donor, for sponsoring this, and to the Church and Colin for trusting me to carry this out. Thank you to Peter and Charlotte at Cumbria Stained Glass for their support, tape measures, polishing brushes and most expert fitting…. Thanks to Deb my mentor and sounding ear.

All of this….. on the Thursday just before Easter…… And Reverend David asked could we cover up the panel so that he could make the big ‘reveal’ on Easter Sunday.

Reverend David included the reveal of the window as such a beautiful part of the Easter service. And the sun did shine right on time. It was a very very special moment.

It was a great feeling, watching the congregation gather to look at the window.

It is theirs now I realised. This ‘thing’ that has consumed much of my thoughts and working hours over the previous nine months; covered every surface and space in my workshop. Yes, it was theirs now. And it felt good.

At the days end, after all the celebrations and thanks had been made, I took myself back up the The Beacon… The sun was shining and the town of Penrith lay beneath me, much like it had 9 months previous.

On that day I’d been excited but a little nervous. How on earth was I going to portray “Christ in the heart of Penrith’? It was the journey, walking up to the beacon, and seeing the vista before me, that had provided me with the inspiration and belief.

All I had to do then was DO IT. So that is what I did.

Job done.

(See the previous two posts if you’d like a little more context. Thank you for reading.)