Church window remembering lost loved ones wins award

A stained glass window created in memory of a community's lost loved ones has won an award.

The east window at St John's church in Tisbury, Witshire was designed by the artist Thomas Denny and installed in the 12th Century church in 2024.

About 180 people from the community contributed or pledged money to fund the memorial, with more than £150,000 raised within a year.

Canon Judy Anderson, licensed lay minister at the church, said the stained glass - which won the Art and Christianity award - had "so much behind" its beauty.

One section of the memorial window features the image of three children gathered by a local river studying a shell, commemorating the three late children of Sarah Douglas-Pennant - Chair of the church's east window committee.

Douglas-Pennant said both her daughters Anna and Milly had cystic fibrosis and died aged 14 and 29, while her son Johnnie drowned in a swimming accident in 2004, aged 17.

On seeing the glass develop, Douglas-Pennant said she was "absolutely knocked sideways".

"The paradox is that you know when you lose them how lucky you were to have had them.

"Everybody in Tisbury has got loved ones - they all are remembering people," she said.

The stained glass window, which took more than a year to complete, was designed around the theme of "seeing".

Douglas-Pennant said it was about "seeing the light and moments of understanding".

The church has since begun creating a book to record the community members who contributed to the award-winning artwork and the loved ones remembered in the window.

Commenting on the community reaction, Douglas-Pennant said: "It was amazing actually how popular it was…it's in this beautiful glass and it's forever and so you can come and sit in the church and look at the window".

Canon Judy Anderson said people travel from "all over the country" and from overseas to see the window.

"You can look at this window again and again and see something new in it every single time."

Laura Moffatt, from Art and Christianity, said among the other designs shortlisted for the prize were two "amazing copes" covered in "extraordinary embroidery" at Wells Cathedral and an abstract window in a chapel in Durham.

"But [Thomas Denny's] window - I think it was honestly the wow factor that did it for the judges in the end," she said.

The prize money of £3,000 will be divided by the church and the artist.

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