His Majesty The King has approved of the scheme,
and I am glad to say that His Majesty King Leopold
has also expressed his approval of our proposal and
considers that it would form a most acceptable memorial
to his illustrious father.
The sum required is two thousand pounds (£2,000),
and I make this appeal to all ranks of those who served
in the Great War, and to the Regular and Territorial
Armies of to-day to assist me in raising this comparatively
modest sum.
The work will be put in hand immediately the Committee
feel justified in doing so, and the window will be shown
to the public in this country before being handed over
as a gift from British soldiers to Belgium.
{Signed) ATHLONE,
Chairman."
YPRES.
St. Martin's Cathedral, destroyed completely by the
end of the war, has been rebuilt to its original design, a
most creditable work of restoration and a great example
of Belgian determination to remove one of the scars left
on its old cities. The cost has been great and little funds
remained after the addition of a new organ the total
glass of this Gothic building was therefore blank and cold,
especially the Rose Window, the largest of its kind in
Belgium. The future of the permanent prosperity of the
city was still then uncertain, although great numbers of
tourists were annually visiting the Cathedral. It was felt
that filling the window with fine colour as a memorial would
greatly help on the position of Ypres.
Fine stained glass can last many centuries, is of an art
that still is of an individual character, and its impersonal
beauty seldom fails to attract people of all races and creeds.
Many soldiers and women can well understand how, during
stretches of rest from the wars in France or Belgium, a
few quiet moments contemplating the quiet serenity of
fine glass was so valued.
THE ROSE OR WHEEL WINDOW.
In choice of artist and subject special attention was given
to radiance of colour, keeping of the Gothic style and of
a dignity proper to King Albert's memory and of the British
Army and R.A.F.no story was desired to be told or fact
demonstrated, sadness had also passed. The subject chosen
was Christ in Glory as expressed in the Te Deum, the minor
panels filled with the crests of the givers. The size is 250
