A BREATHTAKING window dedicated to the SAS will provide an open place for soldier's families to say prayers for their loved ones, says a former chaplain.

Costing £1 million the new memorial window and sculpture in Hereford Cathedral will be unveiled to the public on Saturday.

Former Chaplain to the SAS for 10 years, Iain Skinner, said that the memorial will provide the perfect place for regiment families to reflect.

He said: "I think it's wonderful to have something in the Cathedral which is magnificent and not behind the barbed wire.

"It's in the centre of the city which is important as I think the whole city identifies with the SAS and feels quite protective over the regiment. There are very few people in the city that haven't got contact with the regiment in some way or knows somebody in the regiment.

"There is a chaplain in the camp but it is in the secure perimeter, many families don't want to go through the physical barrier of the camp and high security fences to say a prayer.

"At times it's not that accessible to families to say prayers but the Cathedral is always open.

"The memorial at St Martin's Church is only relevant for the older generation when the SAS were out that way."

A BREATHTAKING window dedicated to the SAS will provide an open place for regiment families to say prayers for their loved ones, says a former chaplain.

The sculpture and stained glass window has been designed by the Royal Academy sculpture, John Maine, and has taken two years of planning and seven months of work.

The window was made in Germany before being driven across the channel in a van and put together in the city cathedral.

Mr Maine said:  “It's on the South wall of the Cathedral so that's good for light coming in and it has the medieval on his tomb in the next bay so it is a well-balanced location.

"I hoped it would turn out this well but you do these things in expectation and it has exceeded my expectations. There are over 3,000 pieces of glass and two skins of glass which vibrate against each other visually so as you move around the Cathedral you get slightly different versions of the window.

"I worked in a splendid glass studio in Germany which I selected because of their open minded approach to the whole thing and they have large plate glass windows where you set-up the panels and make it against the light.

"I worked closely with the German glass workers and they got in their van and drove it from Frankfurt across Germany to Dunkirk and across the channel to Hereford with it all in the back of their big white van."

Ascension is funded by the SAS Regiment Association and Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust, through specific gifts and donations in support of the project in the 1,300 year-old cathedral.