Every 5 years, all Anglican churches have to be inspected by a suitably qualified architect. This is known as the "Quinquennial Inspection", and informs the church as to the state of its building. He goes to many of the areas that we would not access every day, carrying out an incredibly thorough investigation. Also identified are works that need to be done — as soon as possible, within two years, or within five years. We need to make sure that these are addressed within the timescales given.

Our church building was inspected on 13th July 2017 by our architect, John Bailey B A, B Arch AABC, RIBA of Thomas Ford and Partners. We have just received his report, which runs to some 39 pages, and here is his conclusion:

St Mary's Church is clearly well looked after and much loved. The inspecting architect is pleased to see that no significant new issues have arisen and that items raised are of longstanding, and he would be happy to advise the Parish accordingly.

Of course, there are items given for us to address. The PCC will look at those at its next meeting, once its Standing Committee has looked at them in October. However, the report is overall very positive, and does not give us any major repairs to carry out.

Many people deserve the credit for this. A good number of people volunteer time to keep things clean, tidy and in good repair; others have carried out minor repairs, or obtained quotations from professionals and then overseen the work. We have an active group of Friends, people locally and further afield who have an interest in our fine building regardless of whether they have any interest in the life of our church community. They have taken an interest, gathered funds, and raised the profile of our fine Grade II* listed building.