The Vicar Writes

Nine months ago St. Saviour's had its Quinqennial Inspection ~ shock, horror ~ we were told that some of the ceiling beam connections were beginning to fail and in danger of collapse!! We were granted an immediate emergency faculty licence allowing us to erect scaffolding to repair the damage.

Once the engineer went up to inspect it more closely, he gave us the bad news that once the emergency repairs had been carried out, every beam connection would need to be strengthened with the addition of tie bars, sometime within the next twelve to eighteen months. And so began the faculty procedure for a full ceiling repair. My sincere thanks to churchwarden, Peter Lainton for overseeing the faculty process which was long and involved.

Faculty was granted just before Christmas and work began on the 11th January. An amazing platform was erected on top of the scaffolding, forming a false ceiling from one end of the church to the other, from which the men would work.

Churchwarden, Duncan Watts who also happens to be a builder, offered to take a month off work to repair the roof! What an incredibly generous offer and an answer to prayer. Duncan engaged the help of his partner, Mike Yates and chorister, Mike Doyle. These three men have done a superb job and saved our church thousands of pounds. On your behalf I would like to thank them and pay tribute to their commitment and dedication which has enabled our beloved church to remain open. It looks absolutely wonderful ~ a fantastic job so well done.

Also, grateful thanks must go to helpers: Eric Bowker, who painted the ceiling and other helpers: Campbell & Fraser O'Brien, Roger Salt and Ashley Young who all assisted in the final stages. A huge 'thank you' to Brian and Vera Marshall who made sure our church was clean and ready for worship after the men had finished each week. They do a beautiful job cleaning our church every Friday morning. Last, but not least, thank you to the many volunteers who gave the church a thorough clean once all the work was finished.

Thank you all so very much for your amazing generosity.