At the most recent St Saviour’s parish meeting, it was decided that £70,000 would be allocated to the project from the parish’s reserve funds, making up a significant part of the final £170,000 total that the repointing work will cost.
The rest of the money was approved to be taken from the preservation contingency fund – some £65,000 that the parish had been setting aside over the years to fund the work – and £35,00 that the parish voted to be allocated to the project this year.
‘We’ve been looking at doing it for years, but finally we’ve got round to raising the money, so the hope was that it could go ahead as soon as possible,’ said St Saviour’s rector the Rev. Mark Charmley.
‘It hasn’t been done for a very long time – I honestly don’t know how far back it was last maintained – so hopefully this will be a one-off, and it won’t need to be repointed for another very long period of time.’
In recent years a series of short-term solutions have been implemented, with the spire being sprayed with a waterproofing solution on multiple occasions. However, the approach proved insufficient, and the interior of the church has consequently suffered some leak damage.
‘We’ve had problems on and off for my whole time here,’ said Mr Charmley, who has been serving the parish and church now for some 16 years.
‘Depending on the time of year and the way the wind’s blowing, we get water coming into the church.’
Mr Charmley said that the architect and builders were contacted immediately after the parish meeting, and scaffolding went up earlier this month.
‘The hope is that it will happen during 2026, and that it will happen before the wet months come around,’ he said.