Community knit together to save church roof

Members of a church in York are knitting a blanket the size of their church roof in order to raise funds, having been targeted by metal thieves.

St Olave’s church in Marygate has been hit three times in the past year by crooks, and has seen over £50,000 worth of lead stolen from the church roof.

But in October last year, the latest in a series of attacks against this early medieval church building led to catastrophic damage. 80 per cent of the chancel roof and 20 square metres of the nave roof were stripped of lead, which allowed rain to damage the walls and the organ.

Whilst some money has been claimed back on insurance, they have been left to find £30,000 to cover the cost of the repairs and see the church restored to its former glory.

St Olave’s which was first built in 1055, survived the English Civil War and the Second World War, and now parishioners are determined to take action by joining forces.

The ‘Get Knitted!’ campaign is the brain child of a member of the church fundraising group. 10,000 knitted squares of 20 centimetre squares each, will be sewn together to create a large blanket the size of the roof- approximately 400 square meters!

Reverend Jane Nattras, priest-in-charge of St Olave’s said: “We have had a wonderful response to the Get Knitted! project. People who were married or baptized in the church many years ago have been in touch to say that they will help. Even the Sunday school children have designed their own squares. It has been a wonderful way to connect with the community.”

The project is aiming for completion by autumn this year. The finished blanket will be turned into several blankets of smaller size, which will be donated to orphans in South Africa.