Rescuers: at the English Heritage Angel awards in the Palace
Theatre in London on Monday, Simon Peasley and Pauline Burckitt
(centre of photo, holding award) won the Best Rescue of a
Place of Worship award for their work at St Mary's, West Somerton,
in Norfolk. They were photographed with the judges and presenters
(left to right) Dr Simon Thurley, Charles Moore, Bettany
Hughes, Lord Bragg, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Philip Mould, and Graham
Norton. The 14th-century wall-paintings in St Mary's
(right) were under threat from damp as the building
deteriorated. Mr Peasley and Ms Burckitt, churchwardens, stabilised
the church, finding, in the process, a doorway arch made of re-used
Roman bricks, with the aid of a £123,000 grant from English
Heritage, towards a total repair bill of £180,000. A further
£100,000 is needed for work on the wall-paintings. Leader
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