Horizon recently removed an old and inadequate lightning conductor system from a church and replaced it with a new and up to standard system in line with BS EN 62305;2011

The old single bare copper down conductor had oxidised over the years and was not pleasing to look at, this was not helped by the unsightly installation of the tape by the original installer that had it running down the middle of the clock face of the church tower. Horizon removed the old tape by installation steeplejack ladders to the summit of the church spire and then using rope access techniques abseiled down the spire to remove the old tape and fixings.

Aura Conservation Ltd have teamed up with RICS and the International Masonry Society (IMS) to present a one-day seminar entitled ‘Through The Keyhole – The Victoria Quarter Conservation Project’. The seminar is being held on Thursday 15th June 2017 at the Rose Bowl Leeds Beckett University Lecture Theatre.

What makes this seminar different to other Heritage seminars is the 'case study' approach which they have undertaken to present this large complex project in detail; the seminar will be taking you ‘through the keyhole’ to all aspects of the ‘Victoria Quarter’ Conservation Project.

In addition to ecclesiastical projects, Agrell Architectural Carving are often requested to provide hand carving in the Gothic style for private residences around the world. Whether it’s for a kitchen, a bathroom, some furniture or a whole manor, the Gothic style continues to be as popular now as ever before. Kate Agrell takes up the story: 

"One of our recent projects was to provide a joinery company with 37 hand-carved Gothic tracery panels. These are to be placed in the furniture for a kitchen, bathroom and library at a private residence. As you can see from the photographs, the designs are marked out and all the Gothic tracery panels are carved by hand – no CNC’s – to ensure beautiful, clean and crisp lines providing the highest quality product for the client. Due to our large team of carvers we were able to provide a high quality product, consistency in carving and delivery of the 37 hand carved panels in just over a month.

Traditional windows can often be simply and economically repaired, usually at a cost significantly less than replacement. For timber windows this is largely due to the high quality and durability of the timber that was used in the past (generally pre-1919) to make windows. Properly maintained, old timber windows can enjoy extremely long lives. It is rare to find that all windows in an old building require new sections. Many historic components continue to give service after 150, 200 or even 250 years. Traditional metal windows can also usually be economically repaired and their thermal performance improved, avoiding the need for total replacement.

St Peter’s Church in Framilode was built by public subscription and by a Church Commissioners’ grant in 1854. It was one of many Commissioners churches built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Act of 1814 and related further Acts.

The money was either used to pay for the cost of a church in full or as a grant to cover part of the cost. St Peter’s Church was awarded a grant of £200 and this was recorded on a cast iron plaque originally erected in the porch of the church. The main condition attached to these grants was a requirement for a number of seats to be reserved for the use of poor parishioners.

Quite simply, when the installing contractor is no longer around when a problem occurs with their “guaranteed” work

Of course they may just refuse to return to site - after all, they’ve been paid for the work, why should they care?

They may even have gone out of business (how good is their guarantee then?) - and just how good was the “Guaranteed” workmanship in the first place?

That’s why the 25 year Guarantee from a member of the Lead Contractors Association (LCA) is different.

Repair grants from the National Churches Trust are awards usually of between £5,000 and £40,000 towards the cost of urgent and essential structural repair projects, such as roof repairs. Projects must usually have an estimated cost of at least £100,000 (including VAT and fees) to qualify.

Places of worship of any denomination and age are eligible and applications from listed and unlisted Christian places of worship across the UK will be considered. The Trust are particularly interested in seeing applications from their priority areas - North East England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as from Baptist and Presbyterian churches, but other churches may still apply.

The National Ironwork Heritage Group (NHIG) are holding a Heritage Ironwork Seminar on Friday June 30th this year at Hartlebury Castle, Kidderminster DY11 7XZ from 9.30am to 4.30pm.

The National Heritage Ironwork Group was established in 2009 to raise public awareness about historic ironwork and provide guidance to professionals involved in its restoration. NHIG promotes good conservation practice and high standards of workmanship so as to safeguard the long term survival and integrity of heritage ironwork for the benefit of the nation. They also champion practitioners of traditional ironworking skills and aim to inspire emerging professionals to develop traditional skills. While they cannot endorse the work of specific companies, members are by virtue of their membership ascribing to NHIG Conservation Principles.

In October we revealed that Christian Resources Exhibitions (CRE) had been sold by Bible Society to a new owner headed up by its former media consultant Stephen Goddard.

In December Stephen introduced the new team, stating: “Last May the Bible Society decided to focus on its core mission of offering The Bible to the world and purposed to find a new home for CRE or close it down.

Having designed and made stained glass for many different situations including private houses, churches, public houses, exhibitions and galleries, Ann Sotheran derives the most pleasure from working in close consultation with the client or donor in the initial stages of the design.

She explains:

I like to explore, with them, their reasons for commissioning a piece of work in order that I can develop images which will most closely reflect their feelings and aspirations and evoke a positive response to the finished piece.