Thursday, 14th August 2008
Dear members of St. Mark’s,
What has happened
By now you have probably heard the news about the fire earlier this week, but we wanted to write and tell you what happened directly.
A fire was started late on Tuesday night in the sheds behind the east end of the church. It quickly burnt up the whole of the two sheds and also came through the windows of one of the walls of the vestry. This is at the far end of the church on the right, as you enter.
An alert neighbour in Drake Close called the fire brigade. The fire would have been much more serious, we are told, had it been allowed to burn unchecked for another ten minutes. It had already started on some of the wood panels underneath the main windows. But it was successfully contained by fire brigade in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Caroline and Andrew Armitage were called out. The police and fire investigation teams have done their work. The loss adjustor from the church’s insurance company has been in. The broken parts on the wall and window in question are being boarded up, the church is to be cleaned out and it will be handed back to us in time for use on Sunday.
Thanksgiving and prayer
Please join with us in giving thanks to the Lord for the alertness of our neighbour, for the speedy and effective response of the fire brigade and the insurers, and for the fact that it was not a great deal worse.
Please also pray for the church to be operational in time for Sunday, for the services which are held in the next few weeks and for the progress of the Gospel despite and through this – in the spirit of Philippians 1. The flower festival is less than four weeks away!
And please pray, too, for Michael and Catriona and their family as they return to this situation.
Practicalities
On a practical note, for health and safety reasons the church must remain closed until Sunday.
With our sincerest Christian greetings – and thanks for the support given so far,
Caroline, Adam and Richard