Residents Back Tower Restoration
By LINCOLN SHAW
The bells of St Peter’s, the village church at Cornworthy near Totnes, will soon be ringing out loud and clear once more thanks to an astonishing fundraising campaign by the parishioners.
With pounds30,000 already in the bank, it has been decided to phase the work of restoring the bell tower which has been leaking badly and giving a cold shower to anyone brave enough to ring.
The task of repointing the south and west faces has already started and the fund-raising will continue so that the two other sides can be done next summer, at a cost of pounds40,000.
“The support and enthusiasm for the Tower Fund project has been phenomenal for a village of only 170 homes and with an electoral roll of 49,” said the Rev Joanna Abecassis. “It is an amazing story and we have had tremendous help from everyone concerned.”
The appeal was launched with a black tie dinner on New Year’s Eve with a jazz band and although numbers were limited by the size of the village hall, it brought in pounds3,000. The momentum was continued with a number of events including a High School The Musical style event by South Devon teenagers and a Cornworthy Capers amateur dramatics evening.
A local artist (a former church architect and current Captain of the Tower) painted a series of images of the church and the village which he produced as notelets for sale.
Another architect has made a striking model of the tower on which people are sticking ‘bricks’.
Yet another church architect is giving his services free and volunteered to write a letter to certain members of the community which led to several anonymous donations of pounds1,000 each.
The Cornworthy Rock Trust has also been fund-raising, culminating with a magnificent wine tasting and auction which raised an amazing pounds11,160.
The next event is a concert in the church on Wednesday, September 3 master minded by baritone Christopher Helyer who will be the soloist.
The performers will include the Dart Singers, directed by Bob Barsby, organ and cello solos and music by Vaughan Williams, Warlock and Gershwin.
Tickets, priced pounds7, will be available on the door.
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