Sharing the Beauty of St Peter’s

St Peter’s Church and Church Hall will not be open to visitors at all this summer, but there are ways that you can bring a piece of St Peter’s to you! To try to help the Church’s financial situation, we have three items in this year’s Beatles’ Auction – being held online on Saturday August 29.

We’ve already told you about the collection box – truly a chance to own something unique (because it was hand-made and there is only one of them!).

But here’s a chance to own something just as beautiful!

These were part of the stained glass windows in the Church Hall, which we believe were originally installed when the Hall was built in the middle of the 19^th century. The windows are clearly visible in photos dating from the 1940s onwards and, when Paul ‘auditioned’ to join the Quarrymen in 1957, he did so in the light shining through these windows.

Reflecting their importance in Beatles history, Beatle guide, and friend of St Peter’s, Jackie Spencer used to call our stained glass windows the “Sgt Pepper windows” because the colours of the glass are reminiscent of the suits worn by John, Paul, George and Ringo on the cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

A few years ago we noticed that the lead which surrounded each pane of glass was bending and buckling. The danger that this posed was even more apparent in 2018 when one of the panels fell out of the window.

Fortunately, this was saved and is now part of the exhibition in Roag Best’s Beatles History Museum in Mathew Street, but it did prompt further investigations into the state of the windows. In 2020, it was sadly confirmed that the windows posed a grave threat to health and safety and that they could not be repaired. With regret, we were forced to make the decision to remove the original stained glass windows and replace them with plain glass.

However, we fully recognise the importance of the original stained glass in the history and heritage of St Peter’s and every pane of glass was saved. These will eventually be made available for sale, with each piece of glass housed in a special presentation box complete with a display stand. Unfortunately, the impact of Covid-19 means that we are unable to move forward with these plans for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, these four panes of stained glass, taken from the original Church Hall windows, are being offered for sale now (August, 2020). Proceeds from the sales of all our items will go towards the upkeep of the Church and Church Hall. All items come with paperwork confirming their provenance.

For more information on the auction and on the glass, check out the official auction website and blog post here: http://www.beatlesauction.co.uk/2020/08/beatles-auction-2020-stained-glass.html