When the Parochial Church Council wanted to inspect the roof of St James’ Church tower and also the valley between the roofs over the nave and south aisle, they asked Charlie Waters, whose daytime job is flying an Airbus A380 round the skies, to fly his drone over the church to check for accumulated leaves and other debris. The alternative would have been to get a builder to go up onto the roof but this is difficult as the access to the tower roof is very constricted and also scaffolding would have been needed to comply with “‘Elf and Safety” – a costly solution.
Fortunately, the drone found that both roof areas were clear. While the drone was up, we used the opportunity to survey the gargoyles close up. One is very weathered and would benefit from being replaced, were the funds there to do it!
John Waters, May 2026