CHAPTER 15 Don’t Change Anything! The church was finished. Having moved out in January, we came back in October. We left dampness and dirt; we returned to brightness and light. All involved in this transformation had learned something in the process. Three groups had set out on the journey: the parish; the building and finance committees; the design team. We on the committees were piggy in the middle. Our first lesson began with the front wall of the church: it was a beautiful old stone wall, but the experts claimed that it was responsible for some of the interior damp because in earlier days it had been plastered. They assured us that it was never intended to be bare-faced and that it would have to be re-plastered. We reluctantly agreed. When the plastering began, a few growls of protest were heard around the parish; we explained, but the parish was not quite convinced.Our next hurdle was trees. In front of this gracious old church, like a dirty dribbler around a baby’s neck, lay an ugly expanse of tarmacadam.
