Question: How many apostles are there at All Saints, Toftrees?
Answer: Three — but not for much longer!
For as long as anyone can remember, our west window has shown St Mark, St Luke and St John. The fourth section, intended for St Matthew, has been plain glass.
As part of our restoration, St Matthew is finally coming back — and in the picture you will see how he will look!
We’re very fortunate in Norfolk to have a traditional stained-glass workshop. Stained glass is recognised as an endangered heritage craft, and the workshop works on everything from great cathedrals, including Norwich, to small village churches like ours.
Although Norfolk has many medieval churches, surprisingly little of their surviving stained glass is medieval. Much of it dates from the 19th century, when the Victorians repaired and restored so many of our churches.
Our six-figure restoration project is being funded almost entirely by grants, alongside a few one-off donations. None of our regular parish giving has had to be diverted from the church’s normal work.
And that matters because the project is about more than restoring a building. Our funders want to encourage the local community to see the church as belonging to them — both as a historic building and as a place of worship — and to become involved in its future.
So, after all these years, St Matthew will soon be joining the other three apostles in our west window.
Thank you to Colin Vogel, the churchwarden at Toftrees for writing this article.
