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125 Halton Apprentice Entry Web Site

St Georges Church Window

The 125th Entry St George window Story.

 

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.

125th_window.jpg
The "blue print" of the window design

window1a.jpg
Close up photo of the actual 125th entry window in situ

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For a higher resolution picture, click on the link below:

The text below explains the window design:
 

·         Panel 1 - The Whirlwind that was "borrowed" and re-parked on the parade square, enough said!

      The entry number, of course.

·         Panel 2 - The entry motto "scene but never herd".  The Queen's crown and date of the Silver Jubilee 1977.  The 125th was on route lining duties outside the MOD on The Queen's Silver Jubilee day.

·         Panel 3 - The years the 125th was at Halton, i.e. 1975 - 1978.  The Land Rover and trailer represents the first ever fire-fighters strike.  The 125th provided evening and week end cover for the camp and surrounding area during part of the strike, our transport was a LWB Land Rover with our equipment carried in an open trailer.  The sun represents the hot summer of 1976, which involved 6am starts and 2pm finishes for part of our training period.

·         Panel 4 - The Nijmegen march.  Members of the 125th entry were the first to do this also in 1976, (everyone completed it too despite the heat).  This is represented by the famous Nijmegen Bridge, which is crossed during the march, (held every year) along with a Dutch flag.

·         Finally the yellow border represents the entry colour, (as part of 8 flight)