AILEYMILL Primary pupils are letting the light shine on their school — with some help from stained glass artist Alec Galloway.
They have celebrated their success in achieving ‘rights respecting’ status, by making sure their values last forever.
The school’s new motto — Learning to Learn Learning to Care — is now enshrined on new stained glass panels on the building.
Alec, from Greenock, said: “It was wonderful to work with the pupils.
“We ran workshops and we wanted to put their values into the stained glass using symbols.
“For me it is a chance to show them the beauty of glass and how it works.
“I love working with children. They are always so positive.”
Alec regularly works in local schools in the hope of passing his craft down to the younger generation.
It was as a child growing up in Belville Street that he found his love of stained glass windows, sitting in the pews of St Laurence’s Church.
He said: “That is where it all comes from.”
Up until a couple of years ago Alec was a lecturer in glass art at the Edinburgh College of Art but that course no longer exists.
Alec said: “It is a shame there is no longer a course in glass art in Scotland. I went to the Scottish Parliament to speak about it and it is a work in progress.
“Scotland has such a rich history in stained glass and right here in Inverclyde there are beautiful stained glass windows.
“You see them in some of the houses in the west end and my favourites are definitely the ones in the Old West Kirk.
“There are less and less stained glass artists around now and we are not getting any younger.
“I hope by working in schools like Aileymill we can change this.”
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