Vandals set fire to church in Market Drayton - fundraising event on the way to help with repairs - video Dailymotion

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.

Vandals set fire to church in Market Drayton - fundraising event on the way to help with repairs

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