Durdar youngsters help to uncover windows to a bygone world

By Thom Kennedy

Last updated 09:29, Friday, 03 October 2008

Renovation work at a north Cumbrian school uncovered a set of windows hidden for 40 years.

Owen Andrews works on the project

Photos: the stained glass windows

And now the lancet windows at Stoneraise Primary School in Durdar have been restored to their former glory – and beyond – by the school’s creative pupils.

Youngsters at the school helped to design new stained glass windows to fill the space, which was uncovered while performing renovation works in 2006.

The windows depict images of sunshine, wind and rain and are visible through a collection of glass mobiles designed and created by the children at the school.

Local artist Janis Young then put the piece together, and it was unveiled to parents and pupils last week.

Headteacher Andrew Mason said: “It looks glorious in the afternoon light. It is certainly an eye-catching project.

“We had done some previous building work for the millennium, when we connected the Victorian School to the 1950s building, and we had some lancet windows and we felt it was a great shame to cover them.

“So we were delighted to find we had uncovered some of the traditional architecture in the Victorian section of the school.”

The windows were uncovered two years ago when renovators removed a ceiling installed in the school building, which dates from the 1850s, during the 1960s.

Plans were in place to install a mezzanine floor above the hall, but when the ceiling was removed, they decided to create the windows.

In total, the windows cost the school £900, with financial help provided by Cumbria Arts.

“We had a small grant but I have to say that Janis Young is a grandparent and I think she has been very generous with her time,” said Mr Mason.

“We have been putting the windows together at nights and covering it with brown paper, but on the fifth day we left it uncovered and didn’t say anything to the children, who are all aged four.

“When they came in one of them saw it and the ripple of excitement that went round was tremendous.

“The ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ were like what you would hear at a firework display.”