Salvage

I have a guilty secret.  OK, I have many guilty secrets, but the only I'm admitting to today is one I don't share with many people for fear of judgement.

So let's all just agree to leave that old chestnut, judgement, at the door. OK?

Good.

Escape to the Country.  I love it.  If I'm channel surfing and that pops up on my screen then I HAVE to watch it.  Every time. Even if I've seen it before.  Some of those houses are amazing.  Some are dreadful, but some are just gobsmackingly brilliant and make me want to up sticks and move to the country immediately.  

Of course, then I think about the practicalities involved in living in rural Britain and reality sets in.  It's unlikely to ever happen.  But a girl can dream, can't she?

Anyway... on the episode I'm currently watching, our scrummy host, Jules, is visiting a company called Robert Mills, who salvage church architecture and fittings for resale. I've just had to google them because I was so fascinated. Here's the link.  If I'm ever in Bristol, you'd better believe I'll be checking them out.

It wasn't until I watched this episode that I'd ever thought about what happens to the fixtures and fittings of a church when the powers-that-be decide to modernise or deconsecrate it. Thankfully, the people that own this company do.  Imagine all that stunning craftsmanship going into a salvage yard, or dumpster.  Criminal.  Apparently they rent a lot of it out to film productions, which seems like a good idea.

It got me thinking about the reason all these items were discarded in the first place and why (this particular episode dealt with chapel conversions) there seem to be so many people moving into old churches.  I guess the decline in church attendance (I suspect like most other 'businesses' for want of a better term) has an effect on whether the church can remain in operation.  Unless it's the Catholic Church of course. They've got bucketloads of cash to keep their doors open.  But churches that relied on the generosity or patronage of their congregation, must have no option when their numbers dwindle. 

I guess that's a reflection on how communities have expanded and no longer revolve around places of worship.  I could count on one hand the number of people I know in my generation who regularly attend church.  Sure, there are a few who go at Christmas and Easter, but those who attend on a weekly basis (like we used to as kids)?  I'd be struggling to come up with any.  Maybe it's the circles I now move in, maybe it's the times. It's probably a bit of both.  But more likely the times, when you see how many churches are being renovated for residential dwelling.

It's equal parts sad and comforting.  On one hand, those beautiful, exquisitely crafted buildings are no longer available for community use.  On the other hand, they're being restored and kept intact, albiet as someone's home and that's better than them being totally demolished.

(As an aside... I don't think I could live in an old church.  Would creep me out too much.)

But thank goodness there are people like the ones at Robert Mills who keep those gorgeous interior parts around for future generations to appreciate.