[3132] St Mary, Bolsterstone : Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir

St Mary, Bolsterstone, Sheffield.

Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir Memorial Window (detail).

By Ann Sotheran.

 

This window was donated to St Mary's Church in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Holmfirth Crash.

 

The design of the window has at its centre the landscape of Yorkshire, green rolling hills, with low key representations of mill buildings, mine head winding gear, small villages etc. At the top of the left-hand light is St Mary's, Bolsterstone, representing the village and the community in which the choir is based.

 

The choir travels widely both at home and abroad, to participate in festivals and competitions, so the members of the choir, in their blue jackets, are shown against the background of a compass rose, indicating the different directions of their travels.

 

The lower area of the design incorporates flags of the various nations which the choir has visited, and singers from those countries all raising their voices together in friendship with the men from Bolsterstone. Scattered amongst them are some of the trophies won by the choir around the world. At the bottom are the first two lines of music from "Hail Smiling Morn," the choir's signature tune.

 

At the top of the right -hand light are nine crosses, representing the nine who lost their lives in the coach crash of 1947, shown in blue to provide an instant visual link with the choir. Beside them is the inscription "Remember before God, Thomas Yates, Aline Helliwell, Clifford Ellison, John Firth, Harry Evans, Robert Bocking, Alan Hodgkinson, Alfred Pearson, Nora Adelaide, October 1947

Done