Conservation Cleaning in the Lower Church or Crypt at St John's on the Wall, Sunday 10th July

In this session we ensured that the floor was swept of all loose material. Why was this necessary? Apart from the obvious reason that an unswept floor doesn’t look cared for and is off-putting to visitors, dust can cause damage to the floor. Some parts of the floor are made from ledger stones (inscribed memorial stones) in various materials. These are showing damage; on some black patches adhere to the stones and make them more difficult to read, on others the surface is breaking down as the stone laminates off in little pieces. Water on the floor can react chemically with both the stones and the dust lying on them to cause damage such as the black patches. You may have been as surprised as I have been to walk into the crypt and find puddles of water in the middle of the room, caused by condensation onto the colder floor. The very high amount of condensation means that the ventilation panels in the windows have to be open all the time. Unfortunately this also allows dust to enter the building. There has been a lot of demolition and building work in the streets around the church which means that lately the dust problem has been worse than usual. Apart from causing chemical damage to the floor dust also acts as an abrasive when people walk over it and this too wears away the stone.

So on Sunday we tackled the floor and swept in clean of loose grit and dust with soft brooms. Then I started to clean the engraving on one of the ledger stones with a toothbrush and a natural brush. I did not get far as it takes longer than you would think. What delighted me was to find my name on the stone – Maria.

An especially big thank you to John Bowkett and Peter Shannon for their enthusiastic help in keeping St John’s in good preservation. Our next Conservation Cleaning session will be on Tuesday 26^th July when we will be tacking the Ringers’ Chamber between 6.30-8.30pm – do come and join us. Or if you would like to know more about the stonework at St John’s look out for an event on September 7^th with Sally Strachey – details to follow.

Maria Fenner

Within The Wall

So finally we made it!

An exhibition showcasing the development of the drawing group will begin next week!

Everyone is very welcome, It will be wonderful to see the volunteer team there too for the preview!

Brass rubbing kit; An update on the Marsh Christian Trust prize

Here's an update from Elizabeth on the progress on purchasing the brass rubbing kit, which the team decided was what you wanted to do with the £400 Marsh Trust "Volunteer Team of the Year" award. 

We can buy a "starter" pack,which includes a selection of small and medium brasses, black paper, various coloured wax-gold, silver, copper-erasers and masking tape, plus brass rubbing leaflets, history of all the included brasses, and some"How to do a brass rubbing" booklets. There is usually a 4 week delivery time. We are also hoping, if we have enough money left, to get a replica brass made of Thomas Rowley. A quote for the cost of a replica can be made from a clear black on white drawing, which Charlotte is going to do for us when she gets back from Copenhagen. We are hoping this brass replica will be @18x12 inches-we can choose the size. 

Hello from new volunteer!

Hello! My name is Katie Loughrey, and I am a new volunteer with CCT! I’m here this summer on an internship placement from the United States, and am excited to be working with the CCT.

I’m in the middle of working on my master’s degree in museum studies at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, Florida. Our mascots are Albert & Alberta Gator, and yes, real alligators are everywhere. Specifically with my degree, I’m focusing on museum education, and am interested in informal learning and extending the visitor experience. I’m also getting started in the digital humanities, an exciting new field which uses technology in innovative ways to enlarge and enhance the impact of the humanities. In my case this means doing some interesting work with 3D scanning and printing. Some of my hobbies include reading (especially Harry Potter), traveling (especially where there is Latin food), and playing with my fluffy 90lb Alaskan malamute, Snow Patrol (no relation to the boy band).

In the past, I’ve worked in an art museum, a natural history museum, a science museum, and Disney World (which I argue is a museum, of sorts.) Working with the CCT this summer is an excellent opportunity for me to enlarge my experience to include working with heritage sites, especially historic churches. I love historic churches, and visiting old, freezing cold churches in England are among my fondest memories of visiting family here. 

Though I live in the United States, I have dual citizenship here with the United Kingdom. My mum is British and her side of the family all still live here, mostly in beautiful Hertfordshire. I discovered I am a dual citizen in the customs office last month after a lengthy disagreement about a visa, and am happy to share my story of almost being deported with anyone who is curious! 

This summer I will be working with Ed McGregor on projects related specifically to volunteer support at St. Johns. I’m starting with updating and expanding the information binders located in the church, and trying a more helpful rota system. Additionally, I am assisting Charlotte Pain with organizing an exhibition of drawings from the weekly drawing meeting in St. Johns. 

I’m looking forward to meeting all the other volunteers, and have thoroughly enjoyed speaking with all of you I have met already. Please feel free to reach out with any suggestions on the rota or information binders, or just to say hello!

Katie Loughrey

kloughrey@thecct.org.uk

Photo: Katie visiting the Victoria & Albert museum, posing in front of some fabulous casts

A nice invitation from our friends at Bristol Cathedral

Almost years worth!

This august it will be a year since the drawing group started, which is quite an achievement! 

We pulled out all the drawings too see what we had - two folders full! We are into the 100s easy.

Soon they will be up for an exhibition, exciting times ahead!

A bit overdue..

So an update on the drawing group is very over due I believe!

We are still going strong and growing in numbers! We have a wonderful mix of people and its a privilege to see people progressing so much with their drawing!

We have planned to have an exhibition at the end of July, to showcase the progress and celebrate the development.

For now I leave you with some photos from the most recent sessions!

Shrewsbury and church of St Mary

In this world exist a lot of towns with magnificent relics, but they are not so famous as big cities...
...Well, everybody can brag that saw relics of London, Rome, Paris, Vienna or Berlin. We like to walk beaten tracks and sometimes we lose chance to see something what is amazing/beautiful, etc, etc...However is not so famous to whole world proclaim about it.

 For example about Shrewsbury and the church of St Mary. Now - everybody who is out of UK hand up, if heard about Shrewsbury!...I thought so. But, hey, don't get me wrong. The attitude: "Sherwsbury? Nothing seen, nothing heard" is not a deadly sin or crime. In fact...I also heard about Shrewsbury only when I came to UK. Alike I heard about towns like Volterra or San Gimignano when few years ago I came to Tuscany, about Garmisch-Partenkirchen I heard only thank of annual ski jumping competition. But I started to develop the digression, and should write about something other.
  So, Shrewsbury - town in north-western England, very close to Welsh border. I was a member of "delegation" from Bristol. We came there at the invitation of our colleagues from the local branch of The Churches Conservation Trust, who look after the church of St Mary
  It's unbelievable that in town, which is 8 times smaller than Bristol, can stand a church, wich thank to size, ornamentation and elegance give the impression of being in Rome, Milan or Cologne. Really! You can come in and...inside you feel breathtaking; ornaments, Norman arches, stained glass, organ, altar...really feel this is sacred place.
 Therefore it's hard to belive this church is out of pastoral care. Yes, this beautiful temple funded in 10th century by King Edgar and extended by Normans in 1170 year, this beautiful temple, wich survived political turmoil associated with reformation, this beautiful temple, which survived every possible world wars (including this second) - is out of regular service. This church worked under Norman sword, royal hand even German bombs, but was defeated by money (actually - the lack of money). Simply congergation decided the maintenance is too expensive, and since 1997 St Mary is under the care of local branch of CCT and thak to that is the place spiritual noutrishment (But don't worry - there didn't forget about a body. In vestry is located small, but nice café).
  So, you ever will (or already here) in UK - somewhere between admiration cathedrals in London, York or Canterbury and castles in Scotland, mention about liitle town of Shrewsbury and it's church. And who will remarkably merit for St Mary, in future can count on burial place on little graveyard surrounding the church, where rest in peace another merit people.

Edit: I thought people would like to see this little sketch I made of St Mary's! - Charlotte