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Restoration
Update As reported in the last Messenger, the major
decoration work on the interior of St Michael’s was completed in 2004,
at a cost of over 80,000 euros. During the summer we have continued to
receive donations specifically earmarked for church restoration and these
have brought the shortfall in restoration funding down to some 6,000
euros. One further step was completed in July. The
statue of St Michael has been cleaned and gently restored. The restored St
Michael is seen in his splendour on our front cover. The statue was reinstalled
in its niche in the church in July and blessed just before the
Chaplain’s garden party. It has been a great achievement for a chaplaincy
with a small regular congregation to raise the amounts needed for all this
work. We have had very useful contributions from the Conseil General des
Alpes-Maritimes and from the Diocese in Europe and we have had valuable
advice from Dr Donald Buttress. By far the greatest contribution though
has been from individuals in our congregation; hopefully all readers of
this newsletter. We should take this opportunity to thank all those who
have helped to give a new lease of life to our much loved church. It would be impossible to list all those who have
helped – and some major contributions have in any case been anonymous.
However I think we should take the opportunity to thank especially Nick
and Stephanie Harley. They have made a significant contribution to this
effort and Nick’s help in identifying and contacting the experts needed
to carry out this work (including most recently the restoration of the
statute of St Michael) has been invaluable. Lastly, we still do have a (reducing) deficit on
the cost of the redecoration and there will, as night follows day, be more
work needed on the fabric of the church - so all donations will be
gratefully received. Hugh Mellor A generous gift We
express our deep gratitude and appreciation to our good friend,
M.Alexandre-Sina Shaidi of La
Galerie Royale in Beaulieu for the gift of a beautiful Persian carpet
to our church (at present in front of St Martin’s altar). M. Shaidi is
not a Christian but a devout Zoroastrian – a religion which originated
in Persia and whose priests were called Magi (as the wise men in the
epiphany story). He has great respect for our community and appreciates
its frien |
