Fire in the hold

Who would try to burn down a church?
Strange to think that there are folk around willing to do such a thing. But apparently there are. It must have happened some time around 3 am on Saturday morning. I don't know precisely when, because I wasn't here. Typical. You turn your back for a moment and someone is up to no good.

The first I knew of it was a phone call from home about 4.00 am. Back we came again (its the second time our holiday got interrupted) to find a weary Sacristan, and Church Warden and her husband, waiting for the man to come and board up the damaged doors.


I am grateful - we are all grateful - to the neighbour who first raised the alarm. And glad that the fire brigade are so near, or the blaze might easily have been much worse.
Pity we cannot thank the neighbour in person, but they would not give a name, being unwilling, it seems, 'to get involved'! Someone, seen running away from the scene but not identified, had found a wheelie bin full of stuff to burn, and set fire to it pushed up against the church main doors. Irony there. For the very reason that vandals might misuse them, the church and vicarage bins are kept locked away. Still, the outer doors, battered though they have been over recent months by small attempts at vandalism, had held and kept much of the fire out for just long enough. The inner doors were closed, thankfully, as they were supposed to be, so the draught was reduced I suppose. The whole building still smells of smoke though, especially the Narthex. And the porch will need a complete rebuild.


But who would do such a thing? My best guess is that they were probably some of the young folk who have in recent days repeatedly had to be removed from the church grounds in the evenings because of their abusive behaviour - out for revenge. But we shall probably never know.

I suppose three things concern me most at the moment. One is that we were very lucky. The loss of the porch and main doors with all the smoke damage is bad enough, but had there been any delay because no one saw the flames and called for help in time, or had the fire engine a longer journey: and we could easily have lost the entire church. We are terribly vulnerable, to folk who decide to destroy.

Another is a measure of regret that whoever did call the emergency services would not leave their name. It is the scourge of our society, that folk 'do not wish to get involved'. This parish is not a bad place, though we suffer much vandalism and loutish behaviour because we are just near enough to Sneinton and Netherfield and other places where young folk hang about in aimless mobs, that when the police clamp down on their anti-social behaviour they merely move over to us. And our church drive is commonly inhabited in the small hours, by mysterious folk in cars with darkened glass windows; almost certainly city drug peddlers meeting to do deals. I know that current legislation has made dealing with young people very difficult, for too many of them have learned to abuse their rights and respect no standards, or authority of any kind. But at the heart of many of our problems is actually the polite suburban disease, called 'not wanting to get involved.' All that is necessary, as they say, for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing.....

The third is just the plain waste of it all. The cost in money and time diverted from other things out of all proportion. Some pathetic little oik come along and sets fire to a bin and it must have been a great joke. What for them was a single act and minutes of mischief, becomes for us hours and days of wasted time, thousands of pounds worth of repairs, needless inconvenience for hundreds of people using the building ...

We thought of them today in the Church, sad that anyone could stoop to such dismal things, and praying to forgive their foolishness. Poor silly creatures.