ON SUNDAY morning, in a full Christ Church, Great Ayton, a stained glass window was dedicated to the memory of the Rev Ted Appleyard, vicar of the parish from 1968-78 and friend of the village in his retirement from 1985 to his death aged 82 in 2001.

In the congregation for the holy communion service was Mr Appleyard's widow, Evie, and four children John, Tim, Wendy and Sally, with their families.

The dedication of the window was carried out by the vicar, the Rev Paul Peverell, who became a close friend of Mr Appleyard. Mr Peverell explained that it was not a private window since it had been paid for by members of the village, church, the Appleyard family and others in appreciation of the ministry of Mr Appleyard as vicar of Great Ayton and in retirement.

He said that when the parochial church council had discussed designs for the window, they had settled on two themes, either Jesus calling the fisherman to follow him or Jesus with children, both themes of which had been close to Mr Appleyard during his life.

In the best traditions of Anglicanism, the window is a mixture of the two since it depicts Jesus calling the fishermen while being watched by little children.

At the top of the window are the words "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men". On the right hand side of the window is a picture of St Peter and his brother St Andrew casting their nets over the side of their boat.

The window designer has made a likeness to Mr Appleyard in St Andrew's face. Below the boat are three children watching Jesus, on the left of the window, calling the fisherman.

An inscription at the bottom of the window reads: "Revd Ted Appleyard, OBE, Vicar of Great Ayton 1968-1978. Resident and Good friend in retirement 1985-2001. One of God's Fishermen."

The window was designed and made by Helen Whittaker of Barley Studios in York, who recently was awarded a commission to produce a new window in Beverley Minster, and installed by Keith Barley. Parishioners congratulated and thanked these two with a spontaneous round of applause after the dedication.

Mr Appleyard was also Rural Dean of Stokesley for seven years. He and Evie retired to Linden Road, Great Ayton, in 1985, joining wholeheartedly in church and village activities.

However, retirement was a nominal word because he never fully retired. From 65 until he was 80, he was the retired clergy and clergy widows' officer for the York Diocese, an honorary post that gave him great satisfaction.

Also to the joy of clergy and parishioners, he acted as honorary curate at Christ Church for eight years, always there to support but never to intrude. He preached on his 80th birthday, the service starting with the congregation singing Happy Birthday, and received a spontaneous round of applause at the end of his sermon - not common in the Church of England. Even Mr Appleyard was bemused that morning as he returned to his seat.

Although suffering during his last seven years from myloma, which entailed frequent visits to and stays in hospital for treatment, he remained cheerful to the end and active around the village until his last year.

Mr Appleyard came from a humble background in Leeds from a family of five. He was selected for education and theological training at Kelham at the age of 16, before being ordained at 23.

Following a curacy in Middlesbrough where he met his wife, Mr Appleyard became a naval chaplain. He and Evie were married and had incumbencies at Swine and Flamborough before arriving at Great Ayton in 1968.

His full and active life was outlined in his autobiography Zest for Life written during his illness when he could not sleep at night. Among personages he had met were the Queen, Princess Margaret, T S Eliot, Terry Griffiths, Fred Perry and many others.

It was not only in his pastoral life that his activities and energy seemed boundless. His family life was equally full. Besides their four children, and later nine grandchildren, over the years Mr and Mrs Appleyard opened their hearts and home to a host of children for which they provided short-term foster care, 120 in all.

For this dedicated work, Mrs Appleyard was awarded the MBE. Earlier, Mr Appleyard had been awarded the OBE for other activities in his life