St George congregation seek new home as church roof is targeted by lead thieves
Thieves who stripped a Bristol church roof of lead in a spate of attacks could force a congregation out after causing £80,000 worth of damage.
St George's Baptist Church has suffered around 10 or 11 attacks over the past 18 months, causing the roof to leak.
Rainwater seeped in through the plundered roof – rendering the building unfit for use.
Now the congregation is seeking help from the Christian community to try and find another centre to house its members.
Treasurer David Langham said: "The thieves keep on coming back because we've got a lot of lead on the roof.
"It's soul-destroying for everybody who has been affected – including other churches that have been hit throughout Bristol.
"The church has been getting too big for us. Keeping it watertight is very difficult. Although we've had people coming in to fix it, they've only been patching it up.
"Some have very kindly done the repairs for free. But we have had to get some roofers in and we cannot afford to fix it permanently.
"The cost is not all due to the lead, but structural damage as well. Our congregation had a meeting on Thursday to decide our future.
"We haven't made any key decisions yet, but I imagine that when we do, moving off the church premises will be one of them. Our plan now is to look to the future."
Soaring metal prices and a biting credit crunch has caused lead thefts to soar over the past few years – in 2007 £100,000 was stripped from public buildings in Bristol.
Avon and Somerset Police spokesman Clare Giordmaine said: "Police have liaised with scrap metal merchants to ensure they are aware that people may be offering them stolen metal for sale.
"The Environment Agency officers also regularly visit these sites to check merchants are complying with their Waste Management licence.
Police are advising residents to lock away ladders, install bright outdoor lighting and beware of thieves plundering roofs in daylight as well as at night.
5 Comments
by Resident, Whitehall
Monday, September 29 2008, 10:07AM
“It'll be good to see a decent building put to good use instead of being wasted space as it is at the moment.”
by Andrew Kellett, Bristol
Sunday, September 28 2008, 9:15PM
“Although sad to be leaving a well loved building, the church itself is not downhearted. We are starting two new initiatives next month; Messy Church, an opportunity for parents and children to explore faith in a very informal way( this will be held in the infants school once a month), and Cafe Church which will meet in a local coffeee shop. We wiil continue to meet in a side hall while we look for a new temporary location for Sunday morning worship services and the Thursday afternoon fellowship. The pre-school and toddlers group are unaffected for the time being.
Although very distressing when it happened the theft of the lead may be the impetus we need to find or develop more suitable premises and become more invoved in the local community.”
by Mary Jones, hengrove
Saturday, September 27 2008, 1:39PM
“I'm so sorry to hear of the robbing of the lead from the Baptist church roof. It is great that we who believe are the church. No one can rob us of our intimate relationship with Jesus. If the building goes...Does it matter?? No! So long as our relationship with the King of kings isn't broken.
St George Baptist Church...Be encouraged. His plans are not yours says the Lord!”
by Hugo, Bristol
Saturday, September 27 2008, 11:15AM
“I was very sad to read this article. My condolences to the members of this congregation. Now another church in Bristol is going to have to be abandoned and turned into crummy flats.”
by Paul, Bristol
Saturday, September 27 2008, 9:06AM
“Nice pic of the Kings Arms at Brislington?”