Beverley Minster, looking sublimely beautiful as ever.
On this visit, during the roof tour, we were enormously privileged to have the central boss lifted as a wedding procession down the aisle was beginning. As the boss is close to being above the organ, the sound was absolutely glorious - a rendition of the finale of Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 echoing through the timbers and stonework of the roof space. It’s things like that that make me fall in love with these places all over again.
The church will soon have to begin re-leading the roof, however - at a projected cost of at least £5 million. The government has already begun nibbling into the tax relief for church repairs - as expensive as organs, bells and clocks are to keep in order, re-leading a church the size of Beverley Minster, or even larger - York Minster is the length of the largest battleship to ever serve in the Royal Navy, for example - is in itself a colossally expensive task, never mind re-glazing windows, replacing corroded stonework and the million other tasks that are needed to keep these ancient and colossal structures standing in fine order for millions of citizens and tourists to visit, enjoy and worship in.
These buildings do more than draw tourists and provide a space for worship. Churches drive housing, education and social charitable work in this country and overseas, on top of providing their pastoral functions to their congregations. They are the original ‘big society’ and to abandon their structures is to do as great a disservice to the present as to the past - and indeed the future. I hope that the government thinks again on this tax change. I’m sure we can go without homeopathic hospitals for the sake of our national heritage and present charitable strength.
