Crediton Parish Church

Lighting and Rewiring Appeal 2010

Patron: The Right Reverend Bob Evens Bishop of Crediton

The old wiring conduits across the roof of Holy Cross.

Fifty years after the lighting and wiring was fitted in 1960 at Holy Cross it has now reached the end of its useful life and needs replacing with some urgency. This gives us the opportunity to install more modern systems to reduce our carbon footprint and provide a flexible and quality scheme.

Background

In 1547 the townspeople of Crediton bought Holy Cross Crediton from Henry VIII for the sum of £200. Under a charter, granted by his son Edward VI, twelve Governors were appointed to act as trustees on behalf of the townspeople and inhabitants of the parish. Along with the church the Governors were given endowments and land to provide income for the maintenance of the building and the churchyard. The twelve Governors today are successors of the original twelve.

Over the years the lands have been converted into invested capital which provides a regular income but never enough to meet present day needs for the maintenance and upkeep of Holy Cross. Holy Cross is grade 1 listed and is considered by many, both in this country and abroad to be one of the finest parish churches in the country. Holy Cross is of international importance, warrants two pages in the Devon edition of The Buildings of England by Pevsner and attracts visitors from all around the world.
Typical comments left in our visitors book include:

The First Electricity

Installing a electricity supply to Holy Cross was first considered in 1905 when a plan was drawn up by Exeter architect Harbottle Reid. Because of vague detail and probable cost this was not taken forward. In 1933 electricity was installed by Thomas and Jennings of Crediton to a plan drawn up by Mr C M Davis at a cost of £435. Much of the wiring was fitted externally in conduit around the roofs.

In 1960 the lighting at Holy Cross was replaced and most of that scheme is what you see today. Now fifty years on this has reached the end of its useful life and along with much of the other wiring at Holy Cross urgently needs replacing.

An Exciting Opportunity now exists to vastly improve the lighting and electrical services at Holy Cross with the incorporation of modern systems and technologies to reduce the carbon footprint and provide a flexible and quality scheme to benefit all worshippers, visitors and other users of the church building. Holy Cross is much used by local schools as educational resource and by the wider community for a variety of public events such as during the very successful 2009 Crediton Festival when the town marked the 1100th anniversary of the founding of the first cathedral in Devon here at Crediton.

The Future

A New Scheme has been drawn up in consultation with specialist lighting contractors Anthony J. Smith (Gloucester) Ltd. It is estimated that this scheme will cost in the region of £120,000.

Some of the statistics for material needed are quite daunting. For example 3,000 metres of fireproof cable, 300 metres of multicore cable, over 100 lights with bulbs and fittings. The cost of the materials alone amount to over £35,000 and it is expected that once work commences the installation could take up to three months to complete.

Fortunately thanks to a generous contribution from The Friends of Crediton Church and funds raised by our annual Flower and Christmas Tree Festivals, without which it would be almost impossible to upkeep and maintain the fabric of Holy Cross, we have £40,000 of the money needed. A small appeal committee, on behalf of the Holy Cross Church Governors, is now working on raising the balance of monies needed. All donations of whatever can be spared will be welcome, grant making trusts will be approached, fund raising events will be organized and a wide range of other fund raising ideas explored.

Launching the Appeal

Pictured left: a recent site visit left to right: Neil Blake and Richard Gittings, both from A J Smith (Gloucester) Ltd, Jo Ward (Church Governor) and John Wakefield (Churchwarden)

The Lighting and Rewiring Appeal was officially launched by Crediton Rector Nigel Guthrie at 11am on Saturday 6th March. Those present at the launch were able to take the opportunity to ask Neil Blake, from our chosen contractor A J Smith (Gloucester) Ltd, searching questions about the overall scheme and what was planned. Samples of some of the lights and wiring that would be used were available to view. At the launch £1200 was donated to the Appeal.

Pictured above: Appeal Committee at the Appeal Launch left to right: John Hubbard, Neil Blake from A J Smith (Gloucester) Ltd, Rector Nigel Guthrie, Jo Ward, Glenda Hills, Bill Jerman, Helen Lawes and John Wakefield.

Work Begins

The good news is that thanks to the generosity of many individuals and organisations and grants from Allchurches Trust Ltd, Devon Historic Churches Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation and Virodor Credits Environmental Company the project to relight and rewire Holy Cross was able to begin on Monday 10^th January. These first phases of the work are expected to take between 18 and 20 weeks to complete.

During this time the aim is to keep disruption to a minimum and as far a possible the church will remain open.  Throughout the works parts of the church will need to be partitioned off and for safety reasons no access will be allowed in these restricted areas.  On occasion the church will be locked towards the end of the day earlier than normal.    Two or three staff members from the chosen contractors, Anthony J. Smith (Gloucester) Ltd will be present carrying out the works.   Much of the initial work, weather permitting, will be outside on the lower church roofs or internally at height using a moveable scaffold tower.

During the works everyone visiting the church is asked to please be patient and understanding and to obey all warning signs and instructions.  In the planning of the works, communication systems have been put in place with the contractor, to allow us to be able work around planned events such as weddings and concerts and shorter notice events such as funerals in the church.

The chosen contractor, Anthony J. Smith (Gloucester) Ltd was founded in the early 1970’s as both lighting consultants and electrical engineers.  They are members of The Institute of Lighting Engineers, The Electrical Contractors Association and are approved contractors with the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting.  Over the last 40 years they have built up an enviable reputation and a work force of highly skilled electricians who can cope with any type of installation.  They have lit churches, shops, offices, factories and even a Roman mosaic pavement and work in conjunction with local authorities. They particularly specialise in church lighting and flood lighting and over the years they have gained many awards for lighting and installations in churches of all denominations and architectural styles.  The awards have included St Andrew’s Church Kingsbury, St Mary Magdalene Church Sandringham, St Ambrose Church Kidderminster, St Paul’s Church Weston Super Mare and Worcester Cathedral floodlighting. The supervising architect is John Scott of O West and J Scott Architects.

Work Well Underway

After six weeks of work the organ has been encased in plastic sheet to protect it from dust, up lights in the nave, light brackets in the side aisles, metal trays to route cable across the south aisle roofs from the vestry to a secondary distribution board above the south porch and cables under the tower and in the south transept are all in position.  There has been much additional work in planning cable routes, testing the existing installation and identifying how the existing electrical supply is routed to the various parts of the church. All this information will be crucial when the old installation is taken out and the new connected towards the end of the project.   We would like to acknowledge receipt of a grant towards the cost of the works from the Viscount Amory Trust.

One recent interested visitor to the church was local retired electrician Phil Tait. In 1960 when working for SWEB Phil had helped install the current lighting scheme in the nave and chancel. He recalled doing much of the work from a giant wooden ladder called Goliath, not something that would be allowed today.

Works in the Chancel

External Lanterns

Work has now begun on the new external lanterns and the refurbishment of those to be retained. Simon Ridley, an artistic blacksmith based in mid Devon, is carrying out this work.

We would like to acknowledge the award of a grant from the Ironmongers’ Company towards the cost of the new lanterns and the refurbishment of those old lanterns being retained.

After twenty weeks remaining works include the installation of the exterior lanterns, sockets in the chancel and the remainder of the east end of the church and a number of smaller items. The electricans will be working elsewhere during the two weeks of the Flower Festival but will return in week commencing 13th June to complete the outstanding works over the following three to four weeks. Supervising architect John Scott recently visited to view the new lights in the nave and chancel.

Work to remove conduit from where it passes through stonework and make good and carry out patching repairs on the roof has been completed and costings for essential work still needed in the chapter house, parvise room and tower identified.

The new lighting scheme was dedicated by the Bishop of Crediton the Rt Revd Bob Evens during the 9.30 morning service on Sunday 4th December.

Fund raising continues to close the funding gap remaining.  Thanks to a recent anonymous donation of £10,000 we have now been able to place the order with our contractor Anthony J Smith (Gloucester) Ltd to complete the whole project. It is hoped that the outstanding work to be completed in the chapter house, parvise room and tower will be done over three to four weeks in either January or February 2012.