St Mary's appeal

St Mary's, Ludgershall

Our ancient church needs your help!

Problems began in earnest on 24 March 2010 when vandals stole much of the lead from the roof of the nave, leaving the timber work open to the elements. With local help and volunteers the roof was quickly made weather-proof - for the time being at least.

But trouble had started much earlier and its consequences are widespread.

Since the building was last refurbished in 1889 the lead has been carefully patched whenever leaks have been detected. Unfortunately these and other repairs have not been successful in keeping water out. Even as the vandals were at work, an alarming report was being completed for the Parochial Church Council. This showed that the whole lead roof needs to be replaced.

The chancel roof is tiled but is not fully accessible. We hope that further inspection will show that it is in better shape. With advice from the diocese a new church architect has been chosen. Richard Oxley of Henley has an international reputation for restoration. As it happens he recently restored the windmill at Brill. He has experience of working with English Heritage whose help we shall need on this major project.

Several times in the past 20 years attempts have been made to treat the death watch beetle in the roof. This has not been successful because of the leaks of the lead roof.

Evidence of the infestation is widespread - for example the brown stains on the walls. Some of the structural timbers have been weakened as a result and earlier repairs need to be made good. It will not be known, until an invasive structural survey is completed, just how extensive these repairs need to be.

The good news is that we may be permitted to replace the lead on the main roof with a surface treated stainless steel substitute.This would look the same and be just as effective but it should not encourage the vandals to return.

Significant damage is being caused by water coming from below too. The stonework is marked by surface crystal growth, deposited by the dampness leaching out the heart of the stone. The disused Victorian underfloor heating ducts no longer keep the foundations dry, and sometimes contain standing water. They also serve as a very damp and unsuitable conduit for electric cables.

The church floor is seriously affected. The wood blocks are damp (from below) and infested by worm (from above). The Victorian tiles are worn and cracked. The access grills and vents of the old heating system are redundant and a source of safety trips. The impervious rendering of the interior walls is coming away because of the damp.

The external stonework is heavily eroded in places and the cut stone needs serious attention. The walls themselves have been re-pointed over the years, but often with strong cement mortar that traps moisture and ultimately destroys the softer limestone. This is particularly evident on the south face of the porch.

How much will it cost and how long will it take to put all this right? The building is listed Grade 1 and we can do nothing without the blessing and permission of the Diocese and English Heritage. Guided by Richard Oxley an application has been made (June 2010).

Priorities, in order, are further investigations, the external proofing of the building and drainage, the internal work such as the floor. We hope for first stage permission and some support from English Heritage by November 2010.

The cost may be £250,000, rising to £400,000 depending on the findings of the further investigations. We need significant help from English Heritage - and other contributions large and small.

Ludgershall Bike Night - 5th July 2010

Happy Easter

"I am the door" (John 10:9)

I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)

"I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 

(John 8:12)

Losing our Lead

In Ludgershall, ten days ago, we had about a third of the lead taken from our roof. I feel like I should blog about it, but each time I think about it I feel angry, or violated, or angry (oops done that one already). We are a close knit community, it affects all of us, we love our church whether or not we attend regularly, and it is hard for me to not feel cross. Furthermore (seeing as I am going to rant I shall resort to bullet points):

• We were just worrying about the finances
• You can't insure for this theft because it is so common
• Lots of lovely people do lots of hard work to raise money for the fabric of the church
• The PCC had predicted this may happen and have been very responsible in trying to prevent it

However, we have just had Good Friday and the words 'Father forgive them for they know not what they do' are ringing in my ears. The words of Jesus seem most inappropriate. What happened to his anger and his feelings of being violated? Maybe he had them and worked through them. Realistically, it is just lead, no one has been hurt, and although we feel violated, I am sure that was not the intention of the thieves. I know that the chances are that if I was born into the culture of nicking things then I would probably do the same as them, and it is not as if I have never done anything wrong in my life.

Lord God,
Give me the gift of compassion and forgiveness,
the desire to move on and not hold on,
and may I share the love of Christ to all....
Amen

Prize for the most local local in the Bernwode Benefice

What is the prize? I dunno, probably a box of Chocolates in lieu of next year's Christmas present.. but on with the business.. Now I think we need someone in the age range 40-65, because older people were less likely to go very far, less likely to go away to college etc, so they are excluded, and younger people under 40 haven't hopefully lived half their lives yet so the fact that they are still local is less significant. Local in this definition is merely about which houses one has lived in and how far apart the houses are that they have lived in.

So....
Top three so far are:
1. Jenny Edmans - all her life in Cold Harbour Farm and cottage??? (Btw are these your sheep Jenny?)
2. Estelle Fisher - moved across the road and then back again.
3. Valerie Evans - Piddington, Ludgershall, Brill and now somewhere in between the three houses..

More nominations are required..

The Tower that Jack Built

Actually, not Jack, but Alistair, Hugh, Wade, Paul and Phil (in the photo). Thanks guys for giving up your valuable time on Saturday. This is a scaffolding tower in Ludgershall Church that will be used over the coming weeks to fix a slight.. err.. issue, that one of the beams in the roof isn't holding the roof up, on the contrary, the roof is holding the beam up. The Ludgershall PCC (parochial church council) are intent on rectifying this asap, and the scaffolding tower is the first bit of physical evidence of this.

Salvador Dali, Christ of St John of the Cross

This picture by Salvador Dali aroused gasps of appreciation at the home group in Ludgershall on Thursday, we have been following the ICES material 'Snapshots of the Life of Christ' and this was the final session. I have loved the picture for a long time, and found the background material from ICES interesting and surprising:

This picture by Salvador Dali has aroused strong, even violent, emotions. When it was purchased for Glasgow Art Galleries for £8,200 there was a storm of protest. It was seriously damaged in 1961 by a 'mentally disturbed visitor’, who attacked it with a brick. In 2005 the picture was voted Scotland’s favourite painting in a poll conducted by The Herald newspaper.

It has been regarded as arrogant: ‘only God can look down on the cross’ and even as anti-Christian: no blood, no nails – a crucifixion denuded of its true significance. William Crozier organized a petition against the purchase of the painting. He said in an interview later 'You can’t imagine this man saying, ‘This day you will be with me in paradise’ but rather, ‘This day I will be with you in Hollywood’.

It is clear, however, that Dali himself intended it as an expression of his rediscovered Catholic faith. At the bottom of his studies for the Christ, he wrote: ‘In the first place, in 1950, I had a “cosmic dream” in which I saw this image in colour and which in my dream represented the “nucleus of the atom”. This nucleus later took on a metaphysical sense; I considered it “the very unity of the universe”, the Christ! In the second place, when thanks to the instructions of Father Bruno, a Carmelite, I saw the Christ drawn by Saint John of the Cross, I worked out geometrically a triangle and a circle, which “aesthetically” summarized all my previous experiments, and I inscribed my Christ in this triangle.’

The Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, speaks of the sense of calm that it engenders: suffering has now been overcome by peace. The victory is achieved.

The members of the home group asked me to find out the size of the painting, and the answer is 205 cm × 116 cm (80.7 in × 45.67 in). The effect the painting has on me is to remember that in my suffering God is there, we see the cross from God's perspective, our eyes travelling through the cross, through Christ's body to earth, the place that we live and work: From the eternal to the here and now. So often, when I am suffering I lose all perspective of God, but in this painting our pain and our lives are all held within the enveloping peace and love of God.

Picture from http:// www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/page.cfm?venueid=4&itemid=68

A day in the life of a curate 3

I have been asked to explain what priests do on Monday to Saturday, and so I am dipping into random days to answer the question. Yesterday, the main events were a coffee morning, lunch with the pastoral team, a series of phone calls working on a green project I am involved in, and a home group in the evening:

Coffee Morning - this is open to the community every Thursday in the Brill URC. It is run by church volunteers and provides a great opportunity for people to meet and chat. There is a lot of laughter too. It is mainly retired people who come along. From the church's viewpoint it gives us a chance to serve the community and also to get to know people so that if they are unwell we can be aware and call in.

Lunch with the pastoral Team. The people who serve on this team run the coffee mornings in Brill, Ludgershall and Ashendon and visit those in the community who are unwell. They are a group who all have the gift of encouraging, every one of them has shown me immense kindness and support and they would be the first people to drop in on if I was feeling low.

Green Project. I am a great believer in saving the planet and have a few ideas up my sleeve.. more on this at some other time.

Home Group. It was the Ludgershall Home Group last night. I love it. We discussed the Great Commission:

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

What I love about it is that we are able to discuss things and be very real, it is refreshing to be in a place that  supportive and honest, where everyone's views are respected. I love praying in that group too.

In amongst that was some emailing, and on reflection I realised that the most wonderful part of my job is I regularly see acts of kindness and immense generosity, between others and towards me. Here is a letter I received yesterday:

Dear Lesley

I do hope I can call you that for I feel as if I have known you for a long time.
However, I specially wanted to thank you again for the gentle and lovely way you conducted my daughter's funeral. It was also good to see you later but I was worried about you getting home safely.
I do hope you will find what you are looking for in life and that you will be happy.
Take good care of yourself - I shall remember you fondly.

x x

I often think I have the best job in the world.

Confirmation

I was at a confirmation service on Sunday and I was surprised how emotional I found it.


The Bishop of Buckinghamshire, Alan Wilson (below), confirmed two of the people who attend Ludgershall Church, David Howden and Ellen Daly, who is our organist.

Reminded me again of how important Communion is to me, the symbol of the common cup and us all being part of the Body of Christ, it is mystical in a way nothing else is in my life.


Bishop Alan quoted a book called "The Blue Mountains of China" by Rudy Wiebe, which talked about the new society that David and Ellen were joining:

Jesus says in his society there is a new way to live:

you show wisdom, by trusting people;
you handle leadership, by serving;
you handle offenders, by forgiving;
you handle money, by sharing;
you handle enemies, by loving;
and you handle violence, by suffering.

In fact, she says, you have a new attitude toward everything, toward everybody - because this is a Jesus society, and you repent, not by feeling bad, but by thinking differently.”

(Wiebe, Rudy, The Blue Mountains of China, McClellan and Stewart, 1970.)