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This 2-light window is situated on the south side. It was the first new stained glass window in the Cathedral for over 100 years and replaced one of the windows damaged by the bombing of Newcastle in World War II.

[Click to enlarge]

The window, designed by Cate Watkinson, tells the story of Private Adam Wakenshaw from his humble beginnings in Newcastle to his death in the deserts of North Africa in World War II. Private Wakenshaw was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross and was the only member of the armed Forces from Tyneside to be awarded such an honour in the Second World War. The window celebrates his life and his sacrifice.

At the base of the left-hand window is a terraced street in Newcastle with the Tyne Bridge in the background. The bridge was built between 1925 and 1929 when private Wakenshaw was growing up and it was a new landmark on the Quayside. A silhouette of St. Mary's spire, where Adam was baptised and married, is included.

A map of the area where Private Wakenshaw fought with the Durham Light Infantry is included. The map shows the North African coastline along with the location of Mersa Matruh, where he was killed, and El Alamein, where he is buried.

The top of the left-hand light contains the colours seen on the horizon at sunrise, the time of day when the attack on Mersa Matruh took place.

Moving across to the right-hand light, the cross placed on Private Wakenshaw's grave is depicted. Bougainvillaea and white roses, the flowers that decorated Private Wakenshaw's two-pounder gun in El Alamein Cemetery, are also shown.

Private Wakenshaw fought with the 9th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry and their motto 'Be faithful until death and I will give a crown of life' is included. In the tracery of the window is the cap-badge of the Durham Light Infantry, the Victoria Cross and a heart pierced by a sword.

About the artist...
		From her studios in Newcastle, Cate Watkinson designs and makes architectural glass to commission for a wide variety of applications; from decorative glass panels for public and private buildings to street furniture and public art sculptural pieces. Over the years, Cate has brought her knowledge of glass and its immense versatility to numerous projects involving community and local people. Drawing on history, values and traditions of people in their localities, such projects serve to develop a sense of community and to create art in innovative and perhaps previously under developed environments. Working in schools and hospitals, for example, Cate takes that which is fundamental to the identity of a community, and brings it to life through a range of forms and media. Other works of note include the 'Look' and 'See' Grainger Town public seating in Newcastle city centre and 'Look Out', a 7-metre high glass cone filled with five giant stainless steel spheres installed on the roof of the Debenhams department store at MetroCentre, Gateshead.