Vandals set fire to church in Market Drayton. Fundraising event on the way to help with repairs.

Shropshire Star

St Marys Church in Market Drayton has been the victim of arson, but the community are coming together to help raise money for repairs.

Transcript

00:00We're here in Market Drayton at St Mary's Church and we're here with Nick Allsop and another Nick,

00:05Nicky, from the Crown Pub. Hello, Nicky. Hi. And your little friend, Ted.

00:09Teddy, yeah. So, lovely church, you know, even if you're not a person of religion,

00:16you appreciate these churches we have in this country. They're just stunning, yeah. It's such

00:21a part of our culture, really, our architectural culture and heritage. And look at the state of

00:27this door. What's going on, Nick? What's happened? Well, an unknown person or persons has quite

00:34deliberately set fire to it. And luckily, the fire brigade got here in time to, so there

00:42wasn't extensive damage, but we're just hoping to raise funds to repair the door. Yeah, so

00:48how, you've organised a bit of an event that will be happening at your pub at the Crown?

00:5314th of August. Yeah. At the Crown, 7.30. And what's happening then is... I'm an auctioneer.

01:00Okay. And I'm doing a fundraising auction. Oh. And a raffle. Yeah, yeah. What sort of stuff's

01:06going to be up on offer then, do we know at this stage? We've got some, four, excuse me,

01:10town football tickets. Yeah. We've got a round of gold for four people at Market Drayton

01:17Golf Club. We're having a bottle of wine signed by Ian Botham, which I think is from his vineyard.

01:26Yes, it is. From his vineyard. Oh, well. Okay. We've got a pool table to sell. Cool. And various

01:32other interesting items. So were you a local chaplain, Nick? I am. Yeah. And Nicky, so when

01:40you heard about what had happened, what were your first thoughts? I mean, it's awful. I don't

01:46understand why anybody would want to do that to a church. Nick approached myself in regards

01:51to hold in the auction and then asked if he could use the space in the pub, which we

01:58are more than happy to do. Yeah. Yeah. Very, very, very helpful. And this, we're at kind

02:04of the back of the church here. I mean, like we say, it was a good job that the alarm was

02:08raised. There's some houses you can just see to the right of the frame there. But other than

02:13that, there's not really much of a line of sight, which is it, do we know if this is a known

02:19place for people, kids hanging about, or, you know, drunks hanging about, or any of

02:24that? Has there been problems in the past? I don't think they've had problems with it

02:27in the past. I do believe there are parties that do get up here doing whatever. I don't

02:33know, really. I've walked past of an evening and seen people standing there, but I've never

02:38seen anybody doing anything destructive. Yeah. And, you know, just behind us, there's

02:43some temporary fencing put up, and where, you know, the church has had a large section

02:49of wall come down. So, you know, it's got its own problems without people setting fire

02:55to doors and causing extra damage. The maintenance is excessive on a place like this. Yeah, yeah.

03:00Have we got any ideas what it's going to cost to fix and repair? Well, the excess is £500.

03:06Yeah, yeah. What the actual cost is, I don't know. But the excess will be £500.

03:10See, the aim is to get that covered on the auction. Yeah, if I could cover that, I'd be more than happy.

03:14Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for getting involved, guys, and, you know, that's what community's

03:19all about, and you've come together to do it to your bit. So, it's the Crown Pub. Just give

03:23us that date and time again, Nick. It's the 14th of August. Yeah. It's Thursday, the 14th of August

03:28at 7.30. Great stuff. And it's free beer all night for everyone, if you need to know.

03:33Not why. Oh, sorry, I've missed. Yeah, scratch that, guys.

03:37Only for me. Free beer for the Shropshire Star Photographer, giving it.

03:40Get a plug. Now, get yourselves down, guys, and support it. Yes, Nicky, was she going

03:45to? One of the things that we just both want

03:47to say is, you know, the support from donations from the community have been great.

03:52Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A big thank you to all of those.

03:55Yeah. Yeah, it's nice, isn't it? Because you have this happen, and you're like, what have

04:00we, you know, what is going on with the people living amongst us setting fire to our church

04:04door? But then it's nice that you then get that second wave of the community, you know, all

04:10the, showing that most people are good, aren't they, you know, and there is that strong

04:14community here. It's so full of history, this church alone, never mind the rest of the

04:18time. Yeah, totally. You know, a part of India famously climbed up the side of it.

04:22Did he? Yes. Oh, what, on the outside? Yes. Oh, right, go on, is there a bit, what do

04:27we know about that then? Why, why did he do that? God knows. Wow. Well, yeah, that's, that's

04:34interesting. Yeah, yeah. What do you think about all this, Teddy? We'll give Teddy the

04:38last word. What do you think?

04:42Yeah, he's shocked into silence.

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