Trust Gallery

A photo gallery of the Trust and its activities

The Glass Rainbow Trust takes its name & inspiration from the informative & beautifully illustrated guide by Aidan Smith M.B.E. whose interest & research had been prompted by an appreciation of the beautiful stained glass windows at St Brelade’s Church. Though an appreciative series of articles had been written some years earlier by Dr John Taylor for The Pilot, the local Church of England magazine, Bosdet's work in the Island was generally unknown.

Incorporated by the Royal Court of Jersey in 2005, to celebrate Bosdet's life and work, the Trust marked the 150th anniversary of Bosdet's birth on 7 January 2006 by restoring Bosdet's grave in St Saviour's Churchyard, by placing a wooden plaque in the Church, (which has a painted reredos by Bosdet & four of his windows), by unveiling a blue plaque at Hampton Place, Parade Gardens, St Helier, the site of his birth, and by holding a vin d'honneur.

Trust Members gather at Bosdet's restored grave in St Saviour's Churchyard

Bosdet's grave in St Saviour's Churchyard

Peter Beesley, Master of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers & Painters of Glass, unveiling the plaque

Bosdet's commemorative blue plaque at Hampton Place, Parade Gardens, St Helier

Maureen Bourniquel, Chairman (seated in centre) & founder members with Mr Beesley, the Dean & the Rector of St Saviour’s Church at the Vin d’Honneur

Subsequently the Trust has held a number of fundraising events and has facilitated the restoration of some cartoons, arranged for Sarah Brown (currently Director & Chief Executive of the York Glazier's Trust) to lecture at the Arts Centre in Jersey, and has led several conducted tours of Bosdet's windows for locals and visitors to the Island. The Trust commissioned in June 2007 a comprehensive survey of Bosdet windows in the Island by Jonathan & Ruth Cooke, Stained Glass Conservation, which was distributed to all local churches, and also has produced a guide for the cleaning & maintenance of stained glass written by the Trust's former Secretary Susan Le Gallais.

In 2013, following the discovery of the life-sized painting "Christ Crowned with Thorns", the Trust funded its restoration together with a new frame and easel. The painting has since been displayed in Church of England, Roman Catholic and Methodist churches in the Island.

June 2013, unveiling of the restored painting at the Town Church with Trust Chair Fred Benest (l) and The Very Reverend Bob Key, Dean of Jersey (r)

Jersey Heritage Curator of Art Louise Downie, painting restorer Ruth Baier-Rolls, and John Garton, frame designer & maker

Henry Bosdet Prize for Life Drawing

The Trust has also presented the Henry Bosdet Prize for Life Drawing for students of Highlands College, the local college for further education. The winners to date are Glen Fox (2010), Maria Tarrant (2011), Philip Amy (2012), Toby Webb (2013) & Charlotte McNulty (2018).

2011 Henry Bosdet Prize for Life Drawing winner Maria Tarrant

2013 Henry Bosdet Prize for Life Drawing winner Toby Webb

2018 Henry Bosdet Prize for Life Drawing winner Charlotte McNulty

This website is work in progress. PLEASE CONTACT US if you have any information concerning Bosdet's life or his work, be it stained glass, paintings, drawings, cartoons, mural decorations or memorials. We should be pleased to record and if possible display such work on this website. Thank you in anticipation.