THEY asked the Dean of Southwell, the Very Revd John Guille, to pray for fine weather for two weeks while they were working, but I am not sure the Dean's prayers were adequately answered. Fifteen Army Reserves of the Corps of Royal Engineers had undertaken to re-lay the worn stone path up to the west door of Southwell Minster. They had been drafted from Brighton and Hull to do the job.

Military Plant Foreman WO2 Darren Winter was in charge. "We have an architect and an archaeologist on site," he said while work was in progress, "and we have already found some interesting objects. The old worn slabs are being replaced by new York stone, replicating a design used by the minster stonemason Keith Lipton. There's 180 square metres of the stuff to lay; so can the Dean please pray for sunshine throughout?"

It is the last job the regiment will complete before being restructured into an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and Search Squadron - rather more dangerous than laying paths. They are based at Foresters House, Chilwell, and are recruited from the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas.