WITH churches closed, hymn-singing banned, and weddings curtailed, church organists have had a difficult time during the pandemic. The organist Daniel Smith, who is 25 and from Llanrhystud, in Ceredigion, however, has not been idle. Over the past nine months, he has been building a cathedral.

Using boxes of miscellaneous Lego pieces, as well as special items bought online, he spent nine months completing the model. Standard bricks and his own adaptations have created the Cathedral Church of St Philip and St Elizabeth. Transparent coloured bricks serve as stained-glass; Gothic-style windows have been borrowed from a Lego Harry Potter kit; and in the tower there is even a bell on a wheel that turns.

The design is his own, but features have been copied from well-known buildings such as Notre-Dame de Paris and York Minster. The inside details include a Lady chapel, baptistery, organ, and high altar.

He is not sure how many pieces he used. “I lost count at 3000,” he says.

Before the pandemic, Mr Smith had had a schedule of engagements in his church and in churches around the county. “When services stopped and churches closed, I had a lot of unexpected spare time.”

He is now planning to add a precinct with a Chapter House, cloisters, and a war memorial.