Church Therapy

Chris gets up very early, he always has done.
At 5.30am he was having a Brian Blessed-esque rant about a "puddle" in the living room, so much so, that I found myself wide awake and surrounded by guilty looking dogs pretending to be asleep.


I gave up on getting back to sleep, so I sorted out the animals, took Chris to the station to catch his train, then collected a jar of polish and dusters and walked up to St Michael and All Angels  for my first stint as Church cleaner
Now I don't know the "politics" within the Church, but I do know that I needed to be seen to have done a good job; so with some gusto I polished pews, hoovered floors and brushed clean the wide dark window ledges and enjoyed doing it, in the peaceful quiet of the empty church.


Years ago , when I was working full time, we had a Filipino Cleaning lady in our Sheffield home. She was a tiny powerhouse of a cleaner, who worked like a Trojan for the 4 hours a week she was employed for.
Having her in the house felt a little like a doubled edged sword for even though the house was spotless after she left...I would always feel slightly embarrassed when Eba (for that was her name) used to constantly mutter "Dirty Boys...dirty..dirty boys!" when at full tilt in the kitchen or bathroom!


Anyhow I digress.

An old Postcard of the interior  of St Michaels

Polishing and cleaning in the silence of the Church was more therapeutic than any expensive massage could have been and as I worked I took the chance to really look at the fixtures and fittings around the tiny 55 foot interior.
The impressive East Window (top picture) was donated in the late 19th Century by the daughter of Edward and Anne Roberts from the Black Boy Pub from High Street. It depicts the Crucifixion.
On the North wall is the 91 year old Church Organ

The  school teacher Miss BA Jones was famous for holding on the organ key from the 1940s. She could be a bit of a formidable character  and did not even let the Rector's wife (Mrs Jenkins) an accomplished musician, have the key in order to practice !

Over the vestry door is a stunning painting entitled "I am"
It was painted by a local artist Leonard Hughes who donated it to the Church in 1919.
Apparently locals from the village including the Rector modelled for some of the figures seen in the painting


After 90 minutes, I had finished....and with a final few squirts of fabreeze, I left the peace and quiet of St Michaels for the normal banter of the field and village