THE Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, has commended public vigilance after he was mistaken for a “suspicious youth” — and the police were called — while he dedicated solar panels on the roof of St Peter Mancroft, on Sunday morning.
The Bishop, accompanied by the Vicar, Canon Edward Carter, the verger, and a BBC reporter, had scaled the medieval spiral staircase to take a more in-depth take a look at the brand new solar panels which had recently been installed within the Grade I listed constructing alongside recent air source heat pumps, batteries, and LED lighting.
A passer-by had presumed that the group were as much as no good, and had called Norfolk Police. During the harvest eucharist on the church later that morning, which celebrated this net-zero work, Bishop Usher told the congregation: “It’s been great to be up on the roof to have the opportunity to see your recent installation. I understand the police were called. . . It’s great to be called a youth.”
In an interview with Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 on Monday, Bishop Usher, who’s the Church’s lead bishop for the environment, said that he needed to see for himself “the wonderful work” at St Peter Mancroft towards achieving net zero.
“I probably looked totally shifty just in my coat. I didn’t have my mitre on, or a cope or anything — you don’t are likely to wear that stuff up dusty spiral staircases.
“It is incredible that a member of the general public was concerned, because we have now seen an enormous spate on this country of lead theft from the roofs of our churches, and the contents of those churches, treasure troves of memory for the community, which have been ransacked by thieves; so I actually need to encourage people . . . in the event that they see something suspicious happening . . . in anyplace of worship to contact the police.
“I might much prefer the story ended as happily because it did, reasonably than lead being stripped off in plain sight.”
St Peter Mancroft is a Demonstrator Church under the Church’s Net Zero Programme, which is funded by the Church Commissioners. It received a grant of £50,000, plus co-funding of £36,000 from the Benefact Trust, to support the work (News, 5 July), for which a college was granted earlier this 12 months (News, 2 February). The changes are predicted to scale back emissions by 84 per cent, saving 52.26 tonnes of CO2 annually.
Asked whether there had been any objection to the solar panels, Bishop Usher said that there have been all the time some concerns about changes to the material of church buildings, but that, “if you happen to take a look at any medieval constructing, each generation has added their latest technology to it, adapted and shaped the buildings, and that is our task in our generation.”
