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Window opens a new century
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Friday 3rd Aug 2001.
VILLAGERS and churchgoers have raised thousands of pounds for a stunning stained glass window for the parish church.
The people of Gastard raised the money for their millennium project. Now the window has been installed at St John the Baptist church in the village the first stained one it has had.
Three members of a special sub-committee set up to look at the scheme said they were delighted to be able to have the window.
Ivis Thompson said: "It was the millennium project for the village and it started way back in November 1999.
"We asked for ideas to commemorate the millennium and in the end decided on the stained glass window.
"The church plays a big part in the life of the village everyone comes to church at some stage. But it wasn't just a church project. The design of the window was a reflection of the millennium, and the village as a whole."
Five designs were originally submitted for the window and villagers voted for their favourite at the flower festival in September last year.
Then the fundraising began in earnest, with many people getting involved, from individual donations to coffee morning and lunch events. Mrs Thompson said the Village Hall Committee's £1,000 donation, which had been raised at a recent fete, had been a great help.
The church was built in 1912 and is part of the wider Corsham parish, which includes St Bartholomew's in the town, St Philip and St James in Neston, all of which have stained glass windows.
Gastard councillor Jenny Collier had been asked if she could help find an artist and the village were put in touch with Tony Bristow. Now, co-incidentally, she and her family are set to be the first to benefit from the new
window as her daughter gets married at St John the Baptist on August 11.
Mr Bristow said the window had taken a long time to complete.
"There are quite a lot of processes involved," he said. "The water is for John the Baptist, and the stone reflects the quarries."
The window will be officially dedicated on September 2.
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