Currently at St James we are midway through the final push to get our 1930’s Compton Organ restored and rebuilt, having spent the last couple of years raising money to rehang the bells, those having not been rehung for a good ninety years. However sat in the choir stalls in the north aisle, during a break in rehersal yesterday afternoon I thought I’d snap off a close up of part the big one, the really big problem that we are going to have to raise money to sort out next, when you look at it as a whole, a pretty frighteningly big job.

What you can see in the picture is just a small patch of the west wall of the north aisle, and you can clearly see the thick layer of Victorian plaster, through to the core of the wall. Essentially the walls have been sucking up water since the Victorians took off the medieval ‘breathable’ plaster, and slapped on victorian plaster. We took the plaster off the outside walls and replaced it a couple of years ago, inside is more complicated as the damp has caused all sorts of problems with the woodwork, as anyone who has sat on any of our pews will have discovered!

At the end all the crumbling plaster and stonework will be restored using the original techniques that allow the walls to breathe, the woodwork will be replaced or restored, and in addition we’ll have decent modern electrics, including light and sound system, and most importantly a heating system that will ensure that the internal woodwork is kept safe by maintaining a constant temperature.

But of course all of this will cost money, and whilst the Church seems flush with money on paper, the reality of the wishes of those who left us the money means that it isn’t that simple. Cost wise estimates put it at least double the combined cost of the organ and bells, at over a quarter of a million pounds.