Latest Repair Work Progress Report

The following was originally published in the January 2003 edition of the Parish Magazine

We are now three months into the roof repairs and the project is turning out to be fraught with difficulties, as I suppose all work of this kind is. Some of the difficulties are associated with the repairs themselves, and some with the financial side.

The work itself is actually progressing well, with at least three roof slopes refurbished and re-tiled. These are the Nave north side, the Chancel north side and the east side of the south transept. And very good they look too. Also the gutters and down-pipes have all been renewed or refurbished.

Our troubles started when the contractors started taking the roofs off. First, there were more areas of woodwork that needed replacing than we had originally been led to expect. Then it was discovered that the plaster ceilings of the nave and chancel are largely holding themselves up, with rather little help from the lathes and from the woodwork that is supposed to be supporting them. With the large amount of overhead activity that has been going on, we have been given dire warnings about falling plaster. We have therefore had to restrict use of the church to the south aisle, the transepts and the crossing. By the time you read this, the nave and chancel will probably be full of scaffolding so that use would be impossible anyway. We very much hope that this will be gone by the time we have a new member of the team installed.

English Heritage has increased its grant enough to encourage us to go ahead with this work, but there are some "buts". First, there is not nearly enough for the "proper" repair of the ceilings, so we are going to get a temporary safety net until a lot more money can be raised.

The second "but" is that the improved English Heritage grant is for 66% of £98,000, up from 80% of £47,000. When we add in the other charities that have already agreed to contribute, this means that we now in debt to the tune of £10,000. When you receive our begging letter, please do what you can to help. The alternative was for the contractors to stop work with the roofs unfinished and the nave and chancel out of use for the foreseeable future.

RICHARD STAYNER
Secretary to Stanton Lacy PCC

Addendum - February 1, 2003

The above was written before the drains were checked. The main pipe taking the roof water away from the foundations is completely silted up for almost all of its length and will have to be replaced with new. This is actually within the original budget for once, but the church path is temporarily hazardous.