01/03/2015
Greetings to you all,
You would think that because I'm a beautiful mediaeval church - the Cathedral of the Moor - in an idyllic setting, I wouldn't want for anything. After all, I'm Grade I listed with an ancient monument - a Celtic cross - that shows my location has been a place of worship for some 1500 years. More recently the Normans gave me a stone font made in about the year 1100. And then, in the reign of Henry VIII I was given 79 beautifully carved bench ends (for which I am famous) and, a little later, an altar rail and a rood screen.
Eight bells hang in my tall tower and they're all rung each week. Three times I've been struck by lightning and three times I've been well repaired - you can't see the joins! It was the Victorians who gave me my voice, though not until 1956 when my present second-hand organ was installed. Now, sadly, it is slowly fading away, it's voice no longer able to fill my large nave and aisles and its controls no longer able to respond in the manner for which they were designed. The old instrument is no longer fit for purpose. Yet I live and where there is life there is hope, hope that has been realized by those that care for me for within my walls lies - in pieces - a better instrument that my organ builder says will last me for at least a hundred years, given a little refurbishment here and there.
Now how can I refuse a chance to provide the opportunity for making inspiring music for services and weddings - especially as Doc Martin tied the knot in front of my altar! But I need help to raise the £35,000 to rebuild and tune my replacement organ so it is to you that I now appeal and ask for your donation, large or small, for you will then be helping to preserve my beauty for generations to come.
