Please help save our Cathedral for now and future generations
Our beautiful Cathedral is well over a hundred years old, and although it looks wonderful, it needs some Tender Loving Care! So, during 2020/21 we had an extremely thorough survey of all aspects of the building (Quinquennial Inspection or QI) to identify work required to repair our wonderful Cathedral. Everything was professionally costed (at 2020/21 prices) by an experienced Quantity Surveyor; the total of all the work was estimated at over £8million! Some jobs are urgent, and others can wait a while.
That’s a HUGE amount, but we have already spent over £1 million on urgent repair work to: the Transept roof, gutters, electric circuits and the refurbishment of the toilets and drains as well as adornment, such as the Chapel of the Precious Blood, and renovated three stained-glass windows. These works were funded through incredibly kind and very generous donations, along with grants from Historic England, All Churches Trust and Biffa.
The diocese provided the necessary funds to ensure Cathedral House meets current fire regulations and remove asbestos, however, these funds are limited.
In 2023 we need to further reduce Fire and Safety Risks in the Cathedral and Narthex, and then repair the Transept roofs. We are unlikely to receive further grants from sources that have already given more than our share, so we really do need your help! The work outlined above amounts to a fundraising target of £600,000. More detail about these projects can be seen below.
Please help if you can, and please pray for our Cathedral.
To donate please use the Dona Portal or Dona payment machines (Building Repairs Fund) or the cash collection box in the Rotunda or in the North Porch. If you are able to Gift Aid your donation, this enables us to claim 25% on top of your donated amount, at no further cost to you.
To support the Parish of St John the Baptist, please take a look at the information on the Finance page.
Thank you for all the donations we have received. Of our £8,000,000, you can see our progress below.
Narthex Fire Safety Updates
We have been delighted that the Narthex continues to grow in popularity after the lockdown of the pandemic and we are always looking at ways to maintain and improve both our visitors’ enjoyment and safety. Completed twelve years ago the Narthex has gone from strength to strength and it will soon be time to replace some of the fire safety sensors and repair the parts of the building that help with our passive fire protection, ensuring continued safety for our visitors.
Cathedral Safety
Our evening services, concerts and events are becoming more and more popular and as the level of attendance have increased we are looking to improve the experience of all who come in all eventualities. We are intending to enhance the escape lighting in the aisles and to the external doors so that there will be greater visibility for our visitors if the mains power should fail. We hope that you will be able to support these Cathedral enhancements and continue to join us over the events in the coming year.
Lead Roofs
During the 2020 quinquennial inspection we noted that cracking and small holes were beginning to appear in the lead roofs to the Transepts and side aisle of the Sanctuary. We have undertaken several local repairs, but the deterioration is now so great that water coming into the roofs is beginning to rot the timber roof structure itself. Please help us raise the funds to renew these lead roofs before ethe damage to the structure causes irreversible loss of these historic timbers.
