Monkseaton Metro station, in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, is to have it colourful stained glass art works restored to peak conditions.

Nexus, the public body which owns and manages Metro, explained that the project formed part of a £400,000 scheme to refurbish the station canopy’s gable ends. The canopy dates back to 1915, and the stained glass artwork was incorporated into it in 1983.

The forty-year-old ‘Beach & Shipyards’ installation adorns either end of Monkseaton station, and features two pieces of stained glass art:

• ‘Beach’, a bold and colourful design developed from a schools competition won by Rosalind Hurst, and
• ‘Shipyards’, a more abstract treatment of the River Tyne’s heritage.

The stained glass art was created by artist Mike Davis, and fittingly, one of his former students will be carrying out the restoration work. The stained-glass panels will be removed from the canopy and taken to Sunderland‘s  National Glass Centre, where they will be cleaned and repaired.

Nexus is also refurbishing the glazing and steel structures that make up the canopy’s gable ends, which will prolong the life of the structure. It will make the glaizng tougher and more resistant to vandalism and bad weather.

The car park at the Monkseaton Metro station, car park will be used as the base for the work, and so will close until late November. Some station entrances may close temporarily, but Monkseaton station itself will remain open throughout the project.

Stained glass artist, Cate Watkinson, will carry out the work, which will involve re-leading each panel before cleaning and polishing. Cate trained as a stained-glass artist at the old Sunderland Polytechnic (now the University of Sunderland). She studied under the supervision of the creator of the strained glass display, Mike Davis.

She said: “It’s lovely for me to get the task of restoring this amazing stained glass installation, and make it as good as it was 40 years ago.

“I studied for my degree under Mike Davis, and now, four decades later, I get the chance to use the skills that he taught me to ensure that a piece of his work is going to be preserved for many years to come. I can’t wait to get started.

“The broken panes will be pulled apart and re-leaded. The glass will be carefully cleaned and polished so that it’s ready for re-installation. It will be painstaking work but by the time it’s finished there will be no cracks in the glass and it will look as good as new.”

Head of Renewals at Nexus, Sarah McManus, said: “The stained glass art work at Monkseaton Metro station is one of the most striking pieces of public art on Metro, and really has become an iconic feature of the station’s historic canopy.

“We are investing in a range of repairs to the canopy and the restoration of the stained glass is a key element of the scheme, so that customers can enjoy this amazing piece of art work for many years to come.

“It’s amazing that Mike’s former student Cate Watkinson is getting the opportunity to restore his work to its former glory over at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.

“‘Beaches and Shipyards’ played such a big part in the first few years of our art on transport programme in the early 1980s, not long after Metro first opened. It will be fantastic to see this unique piece of art looking as good as new again.”

Rachel Smith, Director of NGG, said: “We’re delighted that National Glass Centre will play a role in restoring Mike Davis’s work. Beach and Shipyards is a well-known and well-loved public artwork, and it’s apt that Cate is leading on its restoration – as someone who studied under Mike and is now a leading academic at University of Sunderland and National Glass Centre, as well as a respected artist in her own right.”