All Saints Church in Oakham is ready for a return of services after a £110,000 lighting project saw some 100-year-old fittings replaced and all the lighting renewed.
Their guest is the Bishop of Lichfield, Michael Ipgrave, on Sunday, who used to be a curate there. They've been holding services in Oakham School Chapel in the meantime, as scaffolding has been up to the ceiling for over two months, with some events transferred to Langham since January. Michael Latham has been heading up the project. Reverend Stephen Griffiths says the new lighting, although subtle, has made a huge difference, as the metal chandeliers have been replaced by new roof lights.
"And now that the pews have had a polish, and all the woodwork is clean of all the dust, the light's really bouncing off the wood, and off the windows, and the brass, and off the organ pipes. So we're able to step back and enjoy the ceilings as well, which for the first time have been uplit, revealing the colours, and also the carved angels in the ceiling, which no one's seen for, well, who knows how long.
There are 82 new light fittings in the church. Most of them out of view one way or another, or as discreet as possible. There's a selection of wider and narrower beamed lights to suit the purpose. And there are more than two kilometres of new cabling, and all held up with more than three thousand clips and screws, and you can't see any of it from the church. Not anywhere can you see the cabling running around."
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