As you may know, the church was closed for a little while at the end of August as a result of some large pieces of plaster falling from the wall over the vestry, leaving the vestry unusable and much of the church covered in dust. Following this, a local builder inspected the loose plaster and made the remainder of the wall safe. The church was cleaned up by a team of willing volunteers and was usable again by the middle of September.
However, since then we have had more unexpected news…after further investigation by the builder and the Chancel officer, who were looking at work in the Chancel (that will be funded by the Church Commissioners), we have since found additional urgent repair work that needs to be done.
As well as what is needed in the vestry, they found that we need:
- some external pointing work to the east gable end of the chancel;
- an overhaul of rainwater goods to the chancel;
- some internal plasterwork to the gable of the west end of the south aisle; and
- some internal cleaning of mould growth to the northern end of the roof of the chancel.
This is obviously worrying news, however, having spoken to the builder, he has agreed to complete these works using the scaffolding that will already be in place, which would save some money. Unfortunately, this additional work would not be funded by the Church Commissioners, and the sum we will need to find is considerable.
The PCC is working hard to investigate grants to cover these costs; however it is a complicated and time consuming process, involving surveyors and church architects, who are busy people and not easily contactable. We will continue to work to keep this beautiful old church in good order as it is such an important part of our village, and we really appreciate the support of the hard working members of the PCC, our congregation and all the local community as we do our best to raise funds and organise these repairs.
Lucie Haddon (PCC Secretary)
