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"How bad is it?" "Bad enough!"

Fortunately the worship area suffered relatively little damage. Roof slates over the gallery were smashed by the firemen who needed to check the roof space to ensure that no wood was still smouldering. The main problem in here was the debris, the water and smoke damage and the smell. To the relief of everyone the organ remained undamaged.

Damage to the church ceiling over the gallery

The schoolroom, however was a different story.

All the playgroup equipment had been destroyed. The heat had cracked all the double glazing allowing smoke to penetrate between the sheets of glass, consequently the room was gloomy, the only illumination coming from the large hole in the roof. Everywhere was black and wet. We were all subdued and saddened.


Downstairs in the Youth Club room the water that had run between the floorboards of the schoolroom had collected in the ceiling space causing the ceiling to bow alarmingly. More water had run down the walls carrying soot with it and flooded the floor. The main damage to the downstairs rooms was caused by the water and smoke, both of which seemed to have permeated everywhere.