If you stroll around the church and look closely at the ten enormous arched windows with their hundreds of panes of glass you will immediately notice the rust, the corrosion, the cracks, the gaps and the

draughts. You will be looking at the original ironwork frames from 1825, cunningly set into oak timber surrounds which were almost certainly the work of local ship builders. These structures have survived two World Wars, nearly two centuries of sun, ice, wind and rain, and, more recently, the polluting onslaught of the Great West Road. Most of the glass panes are misted because the windows were blown out four times during the London Blitz and the parishioners replaced them with coarser utility glass. The circular windows on the sides of the tower, inside and out, are now in a very poor state indeed and will probably not survive much longer without repair.

Our architects Carden & Godfrey have helped us put together the project to restore all the St Peter’s windows to their undoubted former glory and together, we have been in dialogue with specialist contractors, as well as the Georgian Group and English Heritage. One window on the south side has now been

successfully restored as a Phase One trial project and the cost of that, £10,000, was paid for by a generous donor. Using all the information that the contractors got from the trial window the same team is about to start on the remaining nine main windows and four circular windows over the summer holidays.

The windows are of an unusual construction in that the iron glazing bars are set directly into the oak without a surrounding iron frame. Experts did not think it possible to remove each window to do the work in a workshop so all the windows will be repaired

in position. Each individual pane will be removed, the timber surrounds stripped and repaired, and the surrounding stonework made good. The metal frames and glazing bars will have their many layers of old crusted paint stripped off and all the rust will be removed. A specialist paint analysis was carried out in Phase One and it revealed that the original colour of the Georgian window frames was off white. Four coats of industrial paint (as used on oil rigs) of precisely matched colour will be applied to fend off the elements in the years to come. The replacement panes will be of sparkling clear horticultural glass and each pane will be individually hand cut to fit the refurbished glazing bars. The total cost for the second phase of £110,000 + VAT (although the VAT is recoverable).

How You Can Help

Several groups of church users have offered to raise the price of a complete window, so please help them if you are invited to. We have priced the nine remaining arched windows at £10,000 each and the four circular windows at £5,000 each. Or what better way to express your own thanks to God for all he has done for you by donating a window, a half window or a circular window. Perhaps you could donate one or more panes of glass at £50 a pane. All donations will be available for gift aid so the cost of a main window to an eligible donor is £7,750 and a higher rate donor can recover £1,312 making the cost of their donation under £6,500.

A donation form is available by clicking on the linked image above left. please complete this and return it with the donation (cheques to St Peters Church Window Fund; CAF vouchers to St Peter’s Church PCC) to:

Mrs Sian Hood, Treasurer to the Windows Appeal, St Peter’s Church, Black Lion Lane, London W6 9BE.

We will be most grateful for any contribution you can make.