6 June 2023

On Sunday 4 June 2023 the 12 dalle de verre windows relocated from Morfa Nefyn to St David’s Church, Mold were blessed and rededicated in a ceremony presided over by Bishop Peter Brignall of Wrexham.

The ceremony was attended by several board members of Scene & Word. Jonah’s two sons both spoke publicly. David delivered a short appreciation (read here) during the ceremony in which he thanked all those who had contributed to the successful restoration and relocation of the windows. Later, over coffee and cakes in the church hall, Peter gave a short illustrated talk, briefly summarising Jonah’s work and career and placing the Mold windows within the wider context of Jonah’s other glass work.

Close-up view of one of the windows

The Scene & Word party stayed the night in North Wales to reconvene the following morning, Monday 5 June, at Christ The Word Catholic School in Rhyl where they were greeted by head teacher Bernadette Thomas and saw, for the first time, the mosaic relocated from Morfa Nefyn to the school in 2019. The mosaic, mounted high on a 3-storey wall where it can be viewed from all 3 levels, is flanked by full-length prints of the Mold windows. Another window print hangs at the entrance to the school.

The mosaic with one of the Mold window prints

The windows and mosaic all look as good as new following restoration work on them. Also, probably due to the far larger scale of their new homes, they seem much bigger and more imposing than in their previous home. All in all they are excellent examples of how to save and give new leases of public life to late-20th-century public artworks.