Employed by Historic England and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council we have been tasked with the conservation and subsequent repair of the column and I’m very excited to be starting work on our tallest building to date (excluding churches!).
It seems like only yesterday that I was talking to the project team about their ideas for the extension to the Grade II listed Barrow Hill Engine Shed building and here we are, 21st September 2017, at the official Grand Re-opening Gala.
Unfortunately miss matched additions over time can change the feel of a building and, what starts out as lovely, can become a rather ‘ugly duckling’. It’s sometimes difficult to see the potential in a building like this, but very often, with a few changes, it can easily become a ‘beautiful swan’.
It was lovely to attend the Benefice Communion and Re-Dedication Service for the project undertaken at St James Church in Moulton Chapel on Sunday where Bishop Nicholas gave a thought provoking talk on the true purpose of the church. This has been a very special, if somewhat unpredictable project and small was definitely not easier in this case!!
It was a very exciting evening when I was invited to talk to the Retford Civic Society at their general meeting. There was a great turn out and lots of enthusiastic lively members for the discussion.
I have always considered Continuing Professional Development (CPD) an important part of my career development and realise that I have a duty not only to my profession, but also to my clients, to undertake as a minimum the required number of hours set by the professional bodies that I am associated with.
We have been taken on as church architects to the wonderful St Mary Magdalene Church in Whitgift. This Grade I listed church, has a mystery behind its clock. Installed in 1919 to mark the end of World War 1, with the inscription ‘IN TERRA PAX’ Peace on Earth, you have to do a double take to see if you are seeing things, but if you see roman numerals for 13 instead of 12 you are not mistaken.
It was a beautiful service of celebration and thanksgiving at St Thomas a Becket Church, Tugby when we joined them for their grand opening on Sunday 4th June following the completion of the extensive tower repairs and internal re-ordering. The Right Reverend Martyn Snow, Bishop of Leicester gave a wonderful sermon of thanks for the changes, which was followed by wine and refreshments.
We had a situation this week that we‘ve never had to tackle on this scale before when we were invaded by a swarm of bees at a church project that we are in the midst of …. and we’re not talking a small swarm, it’s approximately 25,000 bees!
This church was awarded an HLF grant to fund the conservation works to save the ancient tower in 2015 and this is footage of the completed roof repair.