The Church Tower Project Celebration: Sunday October 4th at 3pm It was six months ago that we celebrated the kick-off of the St Cuthbert’s Tower Project and I am happy to inform you that the project is now completed within budget and timescale. During that time the tower has been substantially repointed; the roof has been overhauled; the clock face treated for rust, painted and re-gilded, and the weather-vane re-gilded and reinstated at the topmost point of the tower, to be admired by all. To mark the occasion, St Cuthbert’s held a celebration that was attended by many from the Parish. Among the assembly was John McMillan, the builder responsible for the work. The afternoon included three presentations; two by invited guests and one by Rob Rees, our Treasurer, who has been deeply involved with the work. All three presentations were well received. The first presentation was from Mrs Fiona Rogers-Coltman who, besides being a Deputy Lieutenant for Shropshire, has been involved with major restoration work at her church in Myndtown and so came with a good appreciation of the work involved in our project. Fiona also outlined the role of the Deputy Lieutenants and the importance of community. St Cuthbert’s has run a number of projects alongside the building work. These included three environmental surveys of the churchyard, two of which, namely looking at bats and moths present in and around the Church, were conducted by Dr Jill Key. Jill gave an excellent presentation reminding us of the wealth of plants and tiny creatures that use the Churchyard as their home. Rob Rees gave a good summary of the tower project talking through the highs and the lows, including sourcing the funding for the work. Rob voiced his optimism that the tower was now good for another 100 years! A major part of the celebratory proceedings was the community of Clungunford coming together: celebrating the success of the project and socialising over a glass of wine and nibbles. One of the attractions of the day was an exhibition from a small group who came together as part of the heritage and community part of the project to produce a new altar cloth. We look forward to being able use the altar frontal in the not-too-distant future. This essential renovation would not have happened without the great support we received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and their players, and Shropshire Historic Churches Trust. Our sincere thanks go to both of these charities.
St Cuthbert's Church, Clungunford
