When I first saw the early windows at the
1998 apprentice tri-annual reunion and then again at the 2001 event, I knew that our entry should look into having our own
installed. In June 2003 the entry held its first official reunion and during
a visit to the church that reality took a major step forward when we all agreed we should indeed have one and booked our window
“slot”. After consulting the others I drew up a design but
I was advised that this would be rejected on the grounds that the church authorities wanted a more pictorial design. At this point I handed over to Reg Pritchard, who manufactured and installed most
of the previous windows. He translated the ideas into the present design, this
was accepted by the church and as many members of the 125th that I could contact at the time. Reg was then given to go ahead to produce the window. Twelve members of the entry including our former
CO contributed towards the total cost of the window.
Bad weather delayed the first fitting
attempt but the shortly after Easter on the 31st March 2005 the window was finally installed. I mention this date because by happy coincidence it was exactly 30 years to the day when the 125th
first arrived at RAF Halton to commence their apprenticeship training. The dedication
service was held on the 17th April 2005 and was attended by seven ex 125 members, Ken Sullivan, Dave Seymour, Neil
Jewess, Dave Papworth, (admin), Chris Sweeney, Eric Wright, Pete Dorward and our last ex boss Laurie Poulter.
The day went extremely well, we had good weather and the service
was followed up with a celebratory lunch at The Red Lion in Wendover. In conclusion it should be said that the 125th
had a reputation of being an apathetic entry, well hopefully having this window produced and installed will go some way to
removing that reputation. The entry is now firmly on the map with its own lasting memorial.
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The picture below shows the "blue print" of the window's design
and the picture below that is of the actual window. Finally there is an explaination of the design.