Fabric report – Annual Parochial Church Meeting 29th of April 2024
Introduction
I’ve chosen to divide this report into sections reflecting the different parts of the church and its surrounding land.
Routine maintenance
During the Warden’s report I spoke about all those who clean and tidy and fix up the flowers and so on. All those people are vital together with people who tidy and do small jobs in the churchyard. Without all those efforts the church and its surroundings would be very much the poorer so thankyou to everybody who helps with these things.
Everybody can do a bit – even if it is to just pick up a piece of rubbish that has thoughtlessly been discarded.
Electrics
Many of you will be aware that there have been issues with the electrical supply. This is both unfortunate and unsatisfactory seeing as the church was rewired just three years ago.
Hopefully the problems have now been resolved however time will tell.
Roof
We have cleaned the gutters and removed the ivy that was starting to grow in a lead valley. We have also fixed two slipped tiles, Otherwise the roof of the nave and chancel have been inspected in the last year and are believed to be reasonably sound.
Plaster
There are places where plaster has fallen over the years most recently and most significantly near to the chancel arch.
This is not believed to be due to the roof leaking but rather to the age of the plaster (it dates from the 1880s) combined with a lack of climatic control, that I will be discussing later.
Given the other items that need work the plaster has been given a lower priority for now.
Tower
During the last year a new lock was fitted to the door to the tower stairs. This resolved two issues which were that the old lock had only one key that could not be economically duplicated and that if the door was locked nobody could get out.
In the coming year I am hoping to make tower access safer by installing a rope on the stairs.
Once that is done the belfry needs to be cleaned out because there is much dirt and also disused equipment littering it.
In the next year or two we will need to replace the tower roof however safe access is a prerequisite for this, and it will be a difficult job to arrange given that we will have to use traditional techniques given that it is a grade 2* listed building.
That means not just a faculty but also given the scale of the project it will be covered by CDM regulations and that means appointing a Principle Designer and a Principle Constructor who operates effective project and safety management.
Organ
The organ is a fine example of Victorian craftsmanship. It was refurbished about 10 years ago, which granted it a significant life extension.
The workings are however constructed of wood and felt and leather and changing temperature and humidity levels impact it.
This is something that we have to be aware of and accept. There will be occasions when it plays up and needs attention.
Heating
The church heating was replaced when the electrical work was done. It is more effective than it used to be however electricity is expensive. The heating costs about £8 an hour to operate. As a result of this it is only used during services and given the lack of insulation the heat is quickly lost afterwards.
The effect of this is that the building is at essentially ambient temperature for most of the time albeit in a damped form from day to day and day to night because of its great thermal mass. This in turn means that whilst the heating takes the edge of the chill in winter there is only so much that it can do.
Despite a desire for a warmer church during the winter months given the economics this situation is not something that is likely to change.
Lane and car park
I expect that most if not all of you will have driven here this evening and if you have you cannot have missed the pothole in the drive near to the carpark.
Furthermore you have probably noticed that the carpark itself is pot marked by potholes and the tarmac is sunk in places and crazed over significant areas. This is because the tarmac is life expired.
The tarmac can be expected to further deteriorate if something is not done, and the rate of deterioration will accelerate because water is now penetrating and in the winter it can freeze and widen cracks. Traffic then crumbles the edge of any holes and plucks out stones.
The days of saying that drivers and pedestrians should beware are over. It is our car park and damaged cars and fallen people may have a case against us and we need to be taking steps to rectify the position.
After this meeting there will be a special PCC.
Contractors have been consulted and quotations obtained. If approval is granted tonight we will get on with work to resurface the car park and resolve all the issues.
I won’t go into a lot of detail here but if you are interested I have written a paper discussing the issues and approaches we might take, and we can let you have a copy.
I should take this opportunity to mention that if anybody wants to contribute to the repair of the car park they can do so and our treasurer will be overjoyed to speak with you.
Finally I will say something about fundraising in this space – and that is that when we come to repair the tower roof we will have a Tower Appeal and that we will be asking widely for support. But a new lead roof on a Grade 2* listed stone church tower will attract funding in a way that fixing a broken up tarmac carpark will not, so funding the carpark will have to come from us the church members.
Churchyard
I mentioned the churchyard in the warden’s report so I will not repeat that information here.
Summary
I mentioned in the Warden’s report that we must remember that the church is not a building it is the body of believers.
Nevertheless the church building and its surroundings are silent witnesses for God and something we must care for.
The building tells a story, from entering through the west door with its nearby font to the alter at the eastern end.
Around and about lie many of God’s people waiting for our Lord’s return.
The building draws people in, people ranging from a curious rambler to a person thinking of about their wedding. In each case it stands as a testimony to God. It reminds those who see it that there is a person much greater than themselves who wants to have a relationship with them.
So whilst our first duty must be to God and then to each other we must continue to care for God’s house so that everybody who comes here for whatever reason sees that it is cared for as a token of our love for God and to ensure that it will be here for future generations as it has been for the last 850 years.