Part 2/3 - Visit to the Stained Glass Centre in Cayton, North Yorkshire, by Becky
In Part 1 Val explained how her father had taught her glass work, his father had taught him, and his father, William Lazenby, had taught him! What a wonderful family history.
“Today the fifth generation of the family are at the helm of the business. Val’s daughter Becky and daughter in law Emma are propelling the Stained Glass Centre into the 21st century. Emma worked alongside Val for several years with her lampworking business and now concentrates her artistic skills on glass fusing and kiln work. She runs courses in the classroom and students are welcome to stay in the guest accommodation Killerby Cottage Farm. In the workshops the team are still working to produce stained glass windows, lampshades and mirrors. Visitors and customers are always welcome to the showroom and tearoom to see how the Lazenby Stained Glass business has evolved in one hundred and thirty six years”
William Lazenby had trained in Birmingham during the revival of stained glass around the time of the Pre Raphaelites, William Morris and when the Gothic Churches were being rebuilt. William started the Bradford Stained Glass Works in 1884, during this surge of interest. It was the first time stained glass had really been used domestically in ‘ordinary houses’ ‘the man in the street’s houses’ and more affordable, although it was still very expensive. He had quite a workforce and also did a lot of church windows. Two of his sons went into business with him, one of them was Val’s grandfather William, and her great uncle George. George remained in charge whilst William was sent off to the First World War.
On his return William decided to move to Scarborough to start his own business because after the war a building surge along the coast meant lots of potential for work. Two of his three sons, including Val’s father went into business with him. None had sons, and growing up in the 60’s Val wasn’t at all interested and it was rapidly going out of fashion, and the rise of double glazing saw many stained glass windows thrown into a skip and replaced! She went off to teach.
The stunning gardens at the Stained Glass Centre, overlooked by the café where you can sit and enjoy an afternoon tea.
Another revival came at the beginning of the 1980’s in America, who looked to the UK probably in horror seeing all the wasted stained glass windows. I remember, on a visit to the centre a couple of years ago, Emma showing me some beautiful pieces they had been given or rescued from skips. Val recalls there was a time when her father was the only person in the North of England doing leaded lights (stained glass windows). Her father had continued the business after his brother retired.
Val became hooked on Stained Glass whilst she was still supply teaching when her family were renovating their house, which is where the Stained Glass Centre is today. She needed some internal light into their bedroom, but with privacy, on the staircase. With her father on hand for help, she made a beautiful stained glass window depicting two nuns, photo below. And below that are two photos of the conservatory window in her dining room which needed replacing, which Val fitted with a stunning leaded light of a vine that she created, it’s a Masterpiece, much more beautiful in real life. So if you ever stay at their B&B you’ll be able to see it at breakfast! (See photos below)
“In 1982 Val had an ‘Epiphany moment’ and her eyes were opened to stained glass. She had been brought up with stained glass since she was a child but thought it was old fashioned and outdated. Suddenly she saw it was beautiful and skilful and she wanted to learn all about it.. She left her teaching post and was apprenticed to her father in his business to learn all she could about stained glass over the next seven years. Ernie’s granddaughter Wendy joined Val. Together they learned their stained glass skills from Allan and Ernie.”
When she created the stained glass window of the nuns she said ‘I thought Oh! My father’s been doing it all those years and I never really looked at it! It was like an epiphany moment!’ She gave up supply teaching and carried on with stained glass – thankfully for us!
I asked her what hooked her, ‘Well first of all I never had been artistic until that moment and I think it was because you get restrictions with glass. The design’s restricted because of the lead and also because of the glass you can cut. So you can only cut certain shapes out and the lead has got to join up. So these two things are always in the back of your mind, you’re thinking what design can I make to take in these restrictions in the glass and the lead. So it’s like developing an idea to work with glass and that is the bit I liked best.’
Now Val has retired, she still runs the B&B and helps her daughter-in-law Emma who is carrying the torch, be it in a different direction, but working with glass. In Part 3, Emma takes us on a tour of her studio.
If you are interested at all in glass, in the video below, Val goes on to explain how she would get around this and lots of other interesting experiences. I’d recommend watching as it’s a fantastic history lesson as well as learning about their amazing family heritage - 5th generation - but also plenty of technical talk and it is very informal and easy to watch -