Flag flying high again at church in Market Drayton
Remedial work to a church tower has allowed volunteers to fly their flag again for the first time in 18 months.
It was a precarious operation to replace the rope on the tower at Christ Church in Little Drayton but the flag is now flying high.
It follows the Government's guidance "encouraging" local authorities and organisations to fly the union flag more often.
Volunteer Dave Munn at Christ Church explained the process of restoring the flag.
"Accessing the tower flagpole is no mean task. The spiral stairs are very narrow and you then have to climb through two trapdoors by way of wooden ladders that are in situ for the purpose of access to the tower roof and the flag pole.
"On inspection the rope that would hoist the flag was rotten and broken. Therefore, to replace this so that we could attach the flag, we first had to unbolt the flagpole hinged support and lower the pole in order to thread the new rope through the top eyelet – a little tricky and a little difficult due to the weight of the pole itself.
"Thankfully the weather was that good on the day we chose to do this that we completed the task without too much trouble.
"Had there been a keen wind, as there was either side of the day we did this, then it would have been a different matter altogether. Due to the limited space on the tower roof only two of us were able to move around up there and complete the task."
