Hot on the heels of the scaffolders putting up the first section of scaffolding on the south side of St John's, the church builders went up and at close quarters surveyed the task in front of them. Close inspection revealed that some of the stone work around the bell-cote needed a little more work than previously thought, but on the whole no big surprises. Good news.
St John's has begun to be covered by a spider's web of scaffold. Metal pipes and wooden planks have been reaching up from the ground as the scaffolding has been erected on the south side of St John's. This will allow the church builders to remove, clean and repaint the water courses. As the scaffolding encases the church over the coming weeks, stone repairs will also be carried out. This will perhaps be most noticeable when the bell cote is worked on.This is the beginning of making St John's interior water tight for many years to come and will allow work to be carried out inside the church in the future safe in the knowledge that water ingress will not damage what has been done.
A visit from a lighting engineer allowed us to move closer to understanding the potential that a new lighting scheme could unlock. St John's present scheme is old, complex,energy wasteful and unable to make the most of the interior of the Church. So much is of interest and significance. However exquisite details are often missed by the viewer as they remain in shadow or semi-darkness.The demonstration clearly showed that a new scheme could illuminate every detail. A great example being the way the Chancel roof came alive with all the details of the Angels and the patterning of the paint work becoming much more visible. This even before the roof is cleaned.Although still to be decided on, it was obvious that a new scheme offers great possibilities. A way to be far more energy efficient, but also as a way to bring alive and enhance the beauty of the church.
