A MEMBER of the congregation at All Saints Parish Church in Okehampton had a shock last week when she went into church and found a section of the ceiling had come down. 

Although it was only a fairly small area when viewed from the floor, it had caused a huge amount of debris and dust on the floor from falling 40ft.

The rector of All Saints, Rev Stephen Cook, heard about the roof while sitting at his desk writing a sermon.

He said ‘Our first concern was to make the place safe. Once one part of the panel had come down the rest was likely to follow. I thought I had a morning free to sort some things out but instead found myself shovelling up plaster and phoning builders. 

‘Billy and Bill Bourne from Buildmaster Properties have done lots of work for us over the years and they were brilliant, leaving another job and getting up there within the hour. We are also very grateful to Mr Scaffold for pulling out all the stops and making the place safe the next day.

‘Sadly the rest is not such good news: when the builders got up there they found that the neighbouring panel also needed replacing and it made sense to do the work while the scaffold was in place. We have had two Sundays with the church looking rather less beautiful than usual but we have managed OK. 

‘Some people have suggested we should make a feature of the scaffold, with lights and dancers, but I don’t think that will happen any time soon! 

‘Obviously the unexpected work has left us picking up a big bill at a time when finances are tight to say the least. I am hoping some of the Times readers might like to help out by helping the Friends of All Saints with a donation. 

‘The church is an amazing resource for the town, a beautiful space for worship, for celebration and commemoration but it does take quite a bit of looking after. The “Friends” is an organisation for people who may not want to turn up on a Sunday, but do want the building to be looked after properly.’ 

The work is now completed and the scaffold due to be removed. Members of the congregation have been busy cleaning and dusting making the church ready for the harvest services.

To contact Rev Cook about making a donation, e-mail scook [email protected] or phone 01837 659297.