MC/13/3/4

MC/13/3/4

File

Spire Appeal Scrap-book 4

VOL. IV Mar.'88 . . Aug.'89

Mar 1988 - Aug 1989

1 volume

One of a series of six clothbound purpose-made scrap-books with marbled paper covers containing material relating to The Salisbury Cathedral Spire Appeal, 1985-1993. Four of the books have a label on the inside back cover: "Hand Marbled Designed and Produced by Compton Marbling Tisbury, Wiltshire England". The spine of this volume has "VOL.IV Mar.'88 . . Aug.'89" printed in gold. The Spire Appeal sought to raise £6.5 million to save the spire and tower of Salisbury Cathedral from collapse and to restore the West Front, and was said to be the largest ever appeal of its kind in England. Among many reports of fundraising initiatives, this volume includes reports on: the death of Alfred Wallbridge, steeplejack, the first man to climb the spire after the Second World War, who had worked on repairs to the spire in the 1950s and placed a time capsule in the masonry; a photograph shows him astride the cross at the top of the spire; a concert in the Cathedral by Salisbury Orchestral Society with violinist Gyorgy Pauk; Robert Key, MP for Salisbury, and three other Wiltshire MPs climbing the spire; the re-opening of the quarry at RAF Chilmark to source stone for the restoration of the Cathedral; Alan Griggs, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, undertaking a sponsored "Beaujolais Run" - on a bicycle; "Biggles Saves the Spire", written and performed by members of the Cathedral choir; the making of a promotional video about the Cathedral, with English commentary by Richard Baker and American commentary by Walter Cronkite, with an appearance by HRH Prince Charles; a contribution of £90,000 towards the preservation and restoration of the statues of the west front of the Cathedral from Armand Hammer of American Occidental Petroleum Corporation; his planned visit to the Cathedral was postponed due to the "Piper Alpha" disaster, the destruction of his company's oil platform in the North Sea with the loss of 166 lives; The 4th Salisbury and Harnham Venture Scouts camping overnight 220 feet up inside the spire; £1,000 raised by the sale of 1,000 knitted mice made by Barbara Watson of Salisbury; the exhibition in aid of the Spire Appeal of the "Pleydell-Bouverie Carpet", an 18ft by 12ft 6in needlework carpet, hand stitched by a team led by the Dowager Countess of Radnor; the Dean, Very Rev Hugh Dickinson, being presented with commemorative copies of the new British Telecom Solent area telephone book, the cover of which featured a night-time photograph of the Cathedral and which invited donations to the Spire Appeal (a copy of the cover is pasted into the back of Spire Appeal Scrap-book 5, MC/13/3/5); the Dean also ascended from the Close in the British Telecom hot air balloon; Caitriona Drumm, stonemason, becoming the first woman to be awarded a William Morris Craft Fellowship; she was also abut to marry fellow stonemason Simon Cartwright; the Spire Appeal passing its half-way point, having raised £3.3 million of the £6.5 million target by May 1989; a concert by the Wren Orchestra with violinist Nigel Kennedy, attended by HRH Princess Margaret; a concert by the London Festival Orchestra with the Cathedral Choir, recorded by BBC TV; a concert by the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Edward Heath, with pianist Ivo Pogorelich; guests at a dinner in a marquee in the garden of Arundells afterwards paid £1,000 a head in aid of the Appeal; and continuing controversies about car parking in and coach access to the Close. This volume also includes a three-page feature on the restoration project from The Weekend Guardian (Jan 1989), and various other illustrated features.

English