Wednesday, August 17, 2011

St Laurence’s RC church roof repairs have begun

REPAIR work about to start on the dome roof at St Laurence Church in Petersfield is expected to be finished by next spring.

The Catholic church, in Station Road, is undergoing some vital maintenance work to its dome and cupola.

The project is estimated to cost about £100,000 and is largely being paid for by money donated from a parishioner’s will.

St Laurence Church’s maintenance committee chairman Simon Craig-McFeely said: “We need to replace the copper on the dome and cupola and we are planning to do the work this autumn or spring next year.

“We may have to wait until next spring as winter is not the best time to do this work."

“We will also carry out brick work repairs and remove, refurbish and replace the windows to prevent leaking.”

He added: “We found out this work needed doing when some brickwork fell off the top of the building. We went to investigate and found that the copper - which is 100 years old - needs replacing."

“We have scaffolding up at the moment so we might as well get this done.We have gone out to tender and are waiting for contractors to get back to us with quotes. We are expecting quotes around the £100,000 mark."

“We were left a legacy fund in 2008 by a parishioner and this will be used to pay for the work. Any remaining costs will be paid for with the rest of the parish funds, which are currently in credit.”