I have worked in BSE before see here

The finished article which is top right is undistinguishable from the rest of the original leaded lights:

Bury St Edmunds began as an Anglo Saxon settlement called Bedric’s worth. Worth was a Saxon word meaning an enclosure such as a farm or hamlet surrounded by a stockade. In 630 Sigebert the king of East Anglia founded a monastery there.

Bury St Edmunds is “The nicest town in the world” according to William Cobbett, Essayist and Traveller. The town is probably most famousfor the ruined Abbey that stands near to the town centre, surrounded by Abbey Gardens, and is one of the hidden gems of Suffolk.

The Abbey itself was founded in 1020 and grew in power and wealth up until its suppression in 1539 when,  as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Abbey was surrendered to Henry VIII. It was sold on by the Crown, the Abbot’s Palace survived as a house until 1720 but the Abbey precinct became a quarry for building material for the townsfolk and the shrine of St Edmund was stripped and broken.

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Queen’s Park is an area in West London located 3.9 miles (6.3 km) north-west of Charing Cross. The northern half lies in the London Borough of Brent while the southern half lies in the City of Westminster.

Known for family-friendly living, the area is centred around a park of 30 acres (12 ha), which opened in 1887 and was named to honour Queen Victoria. The area takes its name from the park, and in turn gives its name to Queens Park Rangers football club.

Architecturally, Queen’s Park is an important historic area, with a unified urban layout with a high level of building preservation. The park is a good example of a Victorian urban green space, and the surrounding streets largely comprise original two- and three-storey Victorian buildings.

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The top light has a rose and a Arthurian shield to encompass the children’s names

The strong yellow front door is an important element in any Feng Shui and is particularly auspicious for south facing

This is our first work in Reigate  and it really shows how the three different light levels work with glass. The morning sun projects the glass into the hallway and then there is the passive colours in the afternoon and then finally the entirely different colours form the electric light projected outwards.

Reigate /ˈraɪɡeɪt/ is a town of over 20,000 inhabitants in eastern Surrey, England. It is in the London commuter belt and one of three towns in the borough of Reigate and Banstead. It is sited at the foot of the North Downs and extends over part of the Greensand Ridge. Reigate has a medieval castle and has been a market town since the medieval period, when it also became a parliamentary borough.

The origin of the name Reigate is uncertain, but appears to derive from Roe-deer Gate, as the town was situated near to the entrance to the de Warenne’s deer park.

Reigate has been home to some very notable people over the years:

Spike Milligan, writer and comedian, used to live at Woodhatch in Orchard Way

Norman Cook, disc jockey, was born in Bromley, London, and raised in Reigate and attended Reigate Grammar School

Mia Farrow, film actress, lived here while married to André Previn - better known of course as  ‘Andrew Preview’ on Morecambe and Wise

George Best, Manchester United and Northern Ireland football player lived his last years near Reigate

Dame Margot Fonteyn, ballet dancer, was born here

Ray Mears, survival expert, attended Reigate Grammar School

David Walliams, writer and star of the Little Britain comedy series attended Reigate Grammar School

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P & A Wood are heavily involved in this year’s Alpine event and will be providing the mechanical support to all the competitors whilst Paul Wood himself will be fielding the oldest car on the event - the 1908 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost called ‘The Silver Dawn’

Main showroom at P & A Wood

Paul & Andrew Wood’s company was founded in 1967. The brothers left Rolls-Royce once Andrew had completed his engineering apprenticeship, to start their own business working exclusively with Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars from a workshop in Moreton, Essex. With Andrew in charge of the engineering element within the Company and Paul in charge of sales and coachwork, the business flourished to such an extent that by 1970 they had to move to larger premises in Great Bardfield.

As time passed, the business continued to expand, making it necessary for a second move in 1988 to even larger premises, this time to the village of Great Easton. Existing buildings on the site were modified and converted into Offices, Parts Department and Coachwork facility. Additionally a large new building was erected as an Engineering Workshop, specifically designed to cater for the repair and maintenance of Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars. More recently, a new but traditionally styled Showroom has been designed and purpose built on two levels to display Rolls-Royce and Bentley motor cars of all ages amd this where the Radley panel is displayed.

Read all about the story of the Radley’s Ghost fine art stained glass panel here.

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Clambering up onto the roof allowed an inspection which soon revealed a series of cracked and holed panes directly above the wet pew probably as a result of a bird strike. Once back on the ground I was able to point out to the Churchwardens the missing glass which of course lined up with the damp area. 

Another company had inspected the same windows and declared all eight on the northern aspect were in need of full replacement at a cost of £43,000 – replacing the three panes has so far solved the problem and delivered a saving of over £42,900 to a happy PCC Treasurer.

The windows attract the heat of the sun resulting in quite marked distortion which had I assume lead to the other company recommending their replacement as the cause of the leak. Distortion is not an issue whilst they continue not to leak and I would aways leave them in place. The survey revealed that in this case the water ingress was from an obvious source with one holed pane.

‘I was on the roof at St Swithun’s shortly after you had been there admiring what you had done.’

Edward Tozer – PCC Treasurer of Icknield Way Villages

You can read more about St Swithun’s here  - the church is part of the same group I have worked on previously – the unusual story of that work can be found here

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