If you’ve read the Rotherhithe saga, you will know that the acquisition of some free carpets has been causing a little bit of housework up various belfries.

Andrew Clark, not exhausted by his efforts at Rotherhithe, immediately offered his services (on a weekday!) at St John’s Waterloo Road, to prepare the tower for the installation of the unsolicited floor coverings. So Trisha took a day off work, and the two of them spent hours scraping, wire brushing and ultimately sealing the peeling paint off the walls in that ringing chamber.

Andrew Clark modelling the latest hoover

It was time for an excursion to the church cellars, where there was a choice of leftover paint. Magnolia, or Ivory? Trisha opted for Ivory.

Sunday came, and being Remembrance Sunday there was no ringing practice, so the call went out for someone to help paint. Joe Tilley was the valiant volunteer.

“You do know how to do this, don’t you?” said Trisha.

“Never done it in my life,” confessed Joe.

But true to form he was an instant expert, and took to rolling paint as easily as he took to Grandsire Doubles. Bless him.

Another picture of Jo

At the end the day the tower was transformed. The bad news is, it should have been Magnolia, so the second coat will be with the right paint!

Joe using the wrong paint

Trisha started it all by delivering the latest surplus clerical carpets from Lambeth Palace to Rotherhithe. If she knew the trouble this would cause, she may have used freecycle instead. If we laid it, this would then be the only clean part of the bell ringing chamber so something had to be done. In a moment of foolishness, aided by a pint of porter at the Angel, Andrew L suggested to Andrew C that the chamber should really be cleaned and painted before a carpet went down because it couldn’t be done afterwards. As we both had a few days leave coming up we agreed to do this over two days and roped in Simon as he has lots of fancy tools and offered an industrial vacuum to play with.

Multitasking Simon painting while balancing on a dodgy stepladder

So the team assembled on a sunny Monday morning and set to.  Andrew L vacuumed the staircase, Andrew C cleared out the cupboard, and Simon researched the ethnicities of the various young ladies serving coffee at the Watch House.  We all then vacuumed and washed the walls, cupboards, panelling etc of the ringing chamber.  Morag turned up to measure for new cushions in the wall seats (technical term needed here please).

Testing out LInda’s failed cake between painting tasks

Tuesday was painting day but not before Simon’s fine effort at changing the light bulbs in the chandelier. This was not possible due to the height of the thing but we had great fun trying to get a long enough ladder up the winding staircase. Eventually the walls were painted, the wood varnished, the cake eaten and everything cleared away.

The decorators between finishing work and heading off for a pint

So, it all looks better to us, but then we would say that wouldn’t we ?  As with all decorating, it is good in theory, but in practice just makes the undecorated parts look even worse.  So, we just need to get the bell and clock chamber cleaned, the stairs painted, cushions replaced, and carpet laid and we’re done. Any organisers and volunteers will be welcome…..

Thanks to Andrew C and Simon for their efforts, amusing company, and photos.

After Stepney practice, the band relaxes with an old party favourite in the pub.

Kevin generates a beam of light out of his head to the amazement of Jo and Eva

Thanks to Jonathan for bravely capturing the moment.

As Xmas approaches, we are starting to get dates of the events that we normally support.  Please take a look at the list, mark them in your calendars, and let the organiser know if you will be attending –

Day              Date          Time          Event                                           Location                Organiser

Saturday      10/11         All day       Surrey Assn Training Day               Bletchingley           Alison

Sunday          2/12         14-16:00    DRC AGM and striking competition  Rotherhithe            Morag Todd

Tuesday         4/12         ???            Licensing new vicar                       Bermondsey           Alison

Wednesday    12/12       18-18:30    Carol Service                                Limehouse              Simon

Sunday           16/12       ????          DRC Xmas Party                            Simon&Janet apt    Simon or Janet

Wednesday     19/12       18:30 for 19:00  Ordination Service                 Rotherhithe             Jonathan

Thursday        20/12        18:30 for 19:00 Fr Richard first mass              Rotherhithe             Jonathan

I’ve also posted these events in the Calendar – please advise me of any errors I have made.