Note from Cathi

St Botolph’s Community Stained Glass Panel

When Peterborough Creative Action approached me with the idea of helping to create a stained-glass panel for St. Botolph’s Primary School and the local area of Orton Longueville I was immediately interested to be working with the different groups of the community that would be taking part.

This project was to involve St Botolph’s Primary School, Orton Longueville Playgroup, Holy Trinity Church, Year 8 of the Nene Park Academy and Barcester-Longueville Court Care Home.

While the finished piece would be based at the primary school it needed to be transportable within the community of Orton Longueville, so it was decided that the framed panel would be fixed within a metal frame easily run on wheels.

The main premise of the piece was to be a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 90 years. As the idea progressed more elements were drawn in. The result was a very detailed series of vignettes depicting the nine decades of the Queen’s life, circling the ‘tree of life’.

To start with each year group of the primary school were given a decade to discuss, discovering some of the historical and popular events, before I joined them for a session where everyone drew their ideas about what that decade meant. From these drawings, we picked the prevalent themes which were worked with to produce a composition. Where possible I included some of the images the children drew or used them as my inspiration.

I found it fascinating to see how each year group worked and thought about their decade.

More input came from the other groups and I was able to start getting to work.

The finished panel drew on various forms of glass working, including copper foiling/tiffany, fusing, fired painted elements, etched details and traditional leaded work.

As we worked through the decades I started laying out the ideas on paper.

The central panel depicts the ‘tree of life’, growing out of St. Botolph’s school logo.
The leaves, showing the five colours of the school houses, surround the nine ‘Fruits of the Spirits’ – Peace, Love, Joy, Kindness, Patience, Self-Discipline, Gentleness, Goodness and Faithfulness.

At its base are drawings from the nursery school children, showing themselves and their families.

1920’s – Orton Longueville Care Home

A visit to Orton Longueville Care Home was spent chatting to a delightful selection of residents who, though far to young to have experienced that decade, enjoyed looking through photographs and discussing the news and trends and fashions of those times.
Included in the panel are references to the Queen’s birth, the suffragette movement, the start of the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC), Art Deco, the flapper dancers and the start of the moving image, films.

1930’s – Year 8 at Nene Park Academy

Year 8 gave some time and thought to this decade while preparing for their mock exams and worked on the ideas related to the 1930’s.
They included the opening of Peterborough Lido, the first sighting of the Loch Ness monster, the publication of Penguin paperback books, introduction of free school milk, the yellow brick road from the film ‘The Wizard of Oz’, with Dorothy’s red shoes, and Amelia Earhart’s first flight.

1940’s – Year 6

This decade was dominated by the continuing 2nd World War.  Showing the war ships in the sea, a spitfire plane in the sky, parachutes floating through searchlights and the prime minister Winston Churchill’s broadcast speeches. While many children were evacuated from the cities to the countryside, there was some fun for the grown-ups to be had dancing to the big bands. Not so long after the war finished the country held its first Olympic Games in 1948.

1950’s – Year 5

The Queen’s Coronation brought communities together with bunting and street parties and as the first televised coronation lots of people bought their first television to watch it. While Mount Everest was finally conquered, children played with the new building blocks of Lego and drivers experienced the first motorway with the opening of the M1.

1960’s – Year 4

This was the decade of peace, love and flower power.  Skirts got shorter and music got ‘pop’ular with groups like The Beatles. While man first reached the moon, some were demonstrating with the CND against nuclear bombs and the Cold War and others celebrated in the stands as England won the football World Cup in 1966.

1970’s – Year 3

This decade celebrated 25 years of the Queen’s reign. It saw the start of block-buster movies such as ‘Jaws’ and the popularity of disco dancing, flared trousers and platform shoes. With the introduction of decimalisation, concord made its first flight, and the first ‘test tube baby’ Louise was born.
The three day week led to candle-lit evenings and the country elected its first woman Prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

1980’s – Year 2

This decade saw the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.  BMX bikes were popular as were Rubric cubes and Pac-man.  Technology advanced with the mobile phone and musical CDs replacing tapes and vinyl records. Everything got brighter and clothes more colourful.

1990’s – Year 1

This decade saw the opening of the channel tunnel, an idea that had been considered for years.  Finally Britain was connected to France by rail and travel time between London to Paris was reduced.

2000 – Reception Year

The Reception Year Group celebrated the millennium with fireworks, and who doesn’t love fireworks? London celebrated near to Big Ben.