Ancient Monument discovered under St. Giles floor this week -   whilst digging to lay electric cables, under the supervision of James Grimwood-Taylor (who is seen in 1 photo with his hand feeling the underside surface of the slate slab monument).    James’ ongoing research will be revealed shortly, but we believe the monument dates from the 17th century and was placed with other slates in the floor when tiles were laid by the Victorians.

There’s a lot to report this issue, most importantly our new lighting and permanent heating is now being installed!

St. Giles will have 5 ‘state of the art’ programmable storage heaters plus permanent underpew heating to the main bank of pews in the nave and part of the south aisle.   The storage heaters will raise the ambient temperature of St. Giles, thus drying out internal walls and helping to protect the building fabric.  They are located in the base of the tower, in the vestry, the Chancel, the nave and in the south aisle so they are well spaced throughout the building.   The underpew heaters, although having individual switches, will also be centrally switched so we can ensure that they are only turned on when we need them.  When we do use them (probably from mid October to mid March, but obviously depending on weather), we will be stacking the kneelers at the end of the pews- please do not move them to the hooks as they are a potential fire hazard and must not be left there.  We can hang them on their hooks during the warmer months.

​Our sincere thanks to Grantscape/Coastal Recycling for their wonderful grant of £17,400 which will cover about 80% of the costs.   Our electricians, Keith Hopper Ltd., will be working in St. Giles throughout July and August, so please take care when entering the church.
http://www.coastaluk.co.uk/2018/10/17/bringing-light-warmth-back-st-giles/

We are also temporarily removing pews near the Font and 2 unused pews at the front of the nave in order to make some more usable social space.  The pews are being securely stored off-site whilst we plan for the servery and accessible toilet.    We hope to finalise these plans soon, so more on that in the next issue.

​Further news about the bees ….. we know that they have lived behind the organ for many decades, probably first entering when the organ electrics were installed and an airbrick put in the south aisle’s eastern wall under the stained glass window.  We have taken expert advice, and are awaiting another inspection and report, however there may be a potential fire hazard due to the extent of the honeycomb & beeswax behind the organ and the proximity of old electric cabling.   We know that they have been causing problems recently for our organist also.  Obviously we have to take all precautions for everyone’s safety so this is a priority matter that we are dealing with.
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Lastly, regrettably we are unable to hold the Monday August Bank Holiday Fete this year.   However we are holding a BBQ & Beer night with indoor sports and fun games for all the family…. See the advert in this issue and come along on Saturday 25 August, from 5.30pm at Victory Hall.