...........we will see the scaffolding erected around the church for the restoration work...... the roadworks prevented the contractor starting on 1st October as planned!!!!
Requests for tenders were sent to 5 contractors who were regarded as having the expertise and experience required for a historic building. Three responded and their bids were analysed by our project manager David Arnold MSc, MRICS, Chartered Building Surveyor and RICS Certified Historic Building Professional at Arnold Bartosch Ltd. The selected contractor is M.V. Gammon who is well known in the area by those involved in historic buildings - he has a good reputation for the quality of his firm's work. He has worked on St. Peter's Church, Bromyard.
The tower and steeple will be the first parts of the building to be restored. This will involve removal of the wooden cedar shingles and their replacement with oak shingles which will be sourced locally from Brockhampton. Some repair is required to flaking stone and pointing in the tower, the wooden louvres, and a leaded window. The original slates on the north nave roof and porch roof are not only slipping, allowing water ingress, they are also crumbling with age and the effects of weathering. They will be replaced, with new flashings. The gutters and drain pipes will be replaced and associated new drainage will be laid.
It is hoped that the work will be completed by the end of March 2019.
Clive Evans, the Vicar of the parish, will oversee the building work on behalf of the Parochial Church Council and liaise with Arnold Bartosch Ltd.
Alongside this start of the building project the heritage project is also well underway with oral history recordings begun, co-ordinated by Bill Morgan, and a big event at the Morgan Motor Company on 2dn November - "The Morgan Family - their life and times" - and a tour of the unique car factory and the museum of Morgan treasures.