St. Mary’s Anglican Church, nestled in the heart of The Valley, Anguilla, has taken on a greater portrayal of excellence and beauty. The just-installed stained glass doors and windows provide colourful displays of national and religious symbols in their archways which. To say the least, the images are admirable, creative and inspirational.
Lit up by natural light by day, and electricity by night, the full-length glass doors and windows, encased in the original wooden shutters, have given the church both a new and welcome appeal to members, visitors and passers-by alike.
The Right Reverend Errol Brooks told The Anguillian: “We have some new windows with stained glass at the top depicting some of our national symbols like the three dolphins, turtle dove, racing boats, pelican and ground lizard. There are also a number of religious symbols on the windows plus the insignia of the Diocese [of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba] on the main door; and on either of the side doors, at the front, we have the three dolphins [on the Anguilla Coat of Arms and Flag]. People claim that it is a beautiful piece of work and I concur with that. The workmen from Miami did a wonderful job.”
Bishop Brooks, who is largely responsible for the new appearance of St. Mary’s, is grateful to the parishioners who contributed to the cost of the upgrading work and thereby to the funds held in reserve for the upkeep of the church.
“You see this Easter Monday function we are having today, it is functions like this, over the years, plus the August Monday breakfast, that we raise money for improvements to the church building,” he explained. “I must admit that there are some members of the congregation who, even though we had the money in hand, dug deep in their pockets and made wonderful contributions to the project. I have had some persons indicating that they wanted to sponsor a window. When all is said and done, we were able to replenish [the funds] we took out. The parishioners have been very helpful and supportive with their contributions.”
Asked how he came by the Anguillian symbols, Bishop Brooks stated: “I made an appeal in church asking people if they could suggest some national symbols for the windows. That wasn’t forthcoming, so I got into contact with Ivor Hodge who had some pictures and also the Post Office and the National Trust and we used some of the resources they had. In the case of the Post Office, we got some stamps and we sent them off to the company [which did the design work].”
That company is Aries Glass which is based in Miami, Florida, and does similar business in various parts of the Caribbean region. Some of its personnel came to Anguilla to carry out and oversee the installation work. The finishing touches were done by a number of local workers.
“This has given the church a great uplift,” The Anguillian told the Bishop.
“Oh yes, definitely,” he replied. “This is the Parish Church sond we need to ensure that it looks like a parish church. We have pinned back the wooden shutters and have taken off the bars so that they won’t knock on the glass. In the event that there is a fierce storm, we can close the shutters outside the class. I should point out that the glass is high impact glass and can withstand wind up to 160 miles. As time goes on, we will be doing other things to improve the church building – and who knows where that will take us? “The thing is that we are leaving the church better for others than we met it,” Bishop Brooks remarked.
The enhanced St. Mary’s Parish Church only has one problem. It is the loud music at the food court just down the road. The Bishop has no problem with the food court, but thinks, like many people, that it should be relocated. “I said my piece before and I still retain it,” he stated. “It is a good idea, but bad location because sometimes we are having choir practices or services yet although people would see the church lit up at night, they still have their own music boxes and what not going on down there. I thought there was some legislation whereby people were restricted from making noises outside certain public buildings…Nobody is trying to take bread out of anybody’s mouth, but why not have another location for it [the food court]? It speaks to where we are going as an island.”
In a related matter, the Bishop disclosed that the services of the above-mentoned company had been retained to undertake stained glass installations at the Diocesan St. John’s Cathedral Church in Antigua which is now undergoing restoration. “Some of the stained glass there will have representations from the twelve islands. For example, there will be a window for Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis and the whole lot of islands,” he added.
