Volunteers help clean up Winchester Cathedral (From Hampshire Chronicle)
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Volunteers help clean up Winchester Cathedral
8:50am Thursday 4th August 2011 in News
(L-r) Campers Tom Walton, Jenny Allen and Hannah Robarts help clean up Winchester Cathedral
AN army of young volunteers have been giving Winchester’s historic cathedral a make-over.
The 16 to 25-year-olds, from across the country and even Europe, have been getting stuck into the project, which involves everything from clearing out dust to gardening and lasted a week.
This work is part of the Community Service Volunteers’ (CSV) Cathedral Camps volunteering summer tour, which chose to return to Winchester to celebrate its 30 year anniversary as it was the location of the first ever camp.
The 12 volunteers will be heading up into the north triforium, a corridor around the building, on the third floor of the building to clean up and get rid of general debris around the statues and artefacts up there so someone can catalogue exactly what is there.
The camps, run at different venues across the country in the summer, are also a chance for people to explore the city, meet new friends, meet requirements for their Duke of Edinburgh or learn about heritage conservation.
Project leader Jenny Allen said: “The community benefits enormously because we’re doing a lot of jobs they simply haven’t got enough time or people to tackle, but it’s also really great to see groups of young people coming together from different ways of life to make friends who they would never have thought to speak to.”
Jenny said the man who founded the camps because his son was bored in the summer holidays had links with the Winchester Cathedral so chose Ripon and Winchester as the pilot locations.
Although it has been at least 15 years since the organisation was last in Winchester, it is hoped this will become an annual visit.
The Dean of Winchester, the Very Revd. James Atwell, said: “The practical jobs they are doing is making a real difference for the present.
"They are full of energy and with a vision to serve which is very inspiring.
“Their motivation is a real sign of encouragement for the future.”
