CHURCHGOERS in Deane celebrated Easter with a new stained glass window thanks to the skills of a Bolton glass firm.

Emmanuel Church in Vicarage Street recently had a new baptistry built and planned to have a stained glass window depicting a scene from the book of Genesis ready for the Easter services.

Ministers called on the services of Classical Glass, based in St Helens Road, which specialises in handmaking stained glass windows to individual designs.

The firm has operated in Bolton for 13 years. Business has diversified in recent years into making stained glass for contemporary designs in modern houses, so the request by Emmanuel Church was a welcome challenge.

Andrew Seddon, managing director of Classical Glass, said: "We have created a window that depicts the creation actually happening. It is a modern design but goes back to the origin of the Earth. Most stained glass in churches is Victorian and very few have new designs."

Designing and making the window which cost around £5,000 took about 18 months, with four craftsmen taking two months to construct the five foot by seven foot window.

Mr Seddon said: "Stained glass windows are made in the same way they have been made for hundreds of years. Separate pieces of coloured glass are cut to shape to make the pattern and joined together by lead."

The company also works closely with Horwich College promoting stained glass making workshops.

l The window at Emmanuel Church is in memory of Miss Dorothy Ormerod Fawell, OBE, former patron of the Parish of St Paul with Emmanuel and Church Warden of St Paul's Church, Deansgate.

It will be formally dedicated on June 8 at 10.30am by the Venerable John Applegate, Archdeacon of Bolton. Former friends and colleagues are welcome at this service.