The Loo of St Mary's and St Cyriac's
The Saga continues. People outside the village who see the Crier have been asking "What is going on?" The Users Group sent another letter to the Churches Conservation Trust. This is reproduced below. Questions are being asked about the money specifically raised for the loo to be in St Mary's. Apart from other funds this especially applies to that raised by Cambridge Voices who waived their fees. As this was ring-fenced within the St Mary's accounts it will be easy to resolve if the need arises. Meanwhile work on St Cyriac's appears to have ground to a halt. Does anyone know why?
Letter to the Churches Conservation Trust dated 13 March 2010.
The difficulty as we see it is that neither you nor your architect has ever experienced a music/art event in St Cyriac's. If you had you would have known that the choir uses all sections of the church depending on the needs of the music. Because of the outstanding acoustics a singer or two in each transept, also in the gallery, and yet again in the entrance, can produce an effect which is magical - or any other rapturous word you would like to use. By blocking off the north and south transepts you have simply taken away two of these vital positions, and thereby impaired a not insignificant part of the acoustics.
St Cyriac's has always had a reputation as a fine exhibition space for art. Not only does screening off the transepts reduce the exhibition space but there is an even greater concern about the loss of light. Shadows will be cast, especially when the sun is shining through the South transept - a time when St Cyriac's often looks at its best.
So you see, your email does not deal with any of our major concerns. As we said in our letter we understand the attraction of making it neat and symmetrical. On the other hand we do feel that the real architectural challenge would have been to have installed the loo without losing so much space and light and making such a major change to the internal appearance of the church.
The only thing we can now do is to sit and wait for the project's completion to discover whether our fears have been justified. We might even find it is the best thing that has ever happened to this church. We will let you know.