Vital repairs for weather-damaged church tower

Vital repairs being undertaken on the damaged tower at St Aidan’s Church

Residents in Sudden may have noticed something unusual at St Aidan’s Church last week, as men were seen “abseiling” down the side of the old tower.

The men were in fact repair workers from Stone Central, carrying out urgent repairs to the stone which had split due to bad weather conditions.

The tower, which dates back to 1931, suffered from recent rain and snowfalls, with moisture building up on the upper level which froze in cold temperatures. The stone work was starting to split and was becoming dangerous, but a young photographer noticed there was something wrong and alerted church staff.

Repair workers swiftly arrived at the scene on Tuesday 26 April and finished the work and have now made the area safe.

Church warden John Tolley said: “It was very fortunately noticed by a young man who came here to take photographs, that there was an issue with the upper level of the tower. Our architect was quick to confirm there was a problem.

“It turned out that there was a build-up of moisture on the stone work causing rust and also causing it to expand, eventually splitting the stone.

“Thankfully Stone Central came to the rescue, and as you can see in the photographs, went right up there themselves to fix the problem. I have to say they have done a fantastic job and the works have now been completed.”

Gary Robinson, who lives in the area said: “It looked a lot like they were abseiling, I wanted to have a go. It turned out they were doing something much more important, good on them. I’m glad they got to the job so quickly.”