Communities help church after fire (From Witney Gazette)

Communities help church after fire

2:24pm Tuesday 14th August 2007 in Witney By David Horne

COMMUNITIES in West Oxfordshire are rallying to help a landmark church severely hit by fire.

Offers of help have started coming in after a blaze ripped through Millennium project rooms at All Saints Church, Churchill, on Saturday night.

The white walls of the interior of the 180-year-old church have also been blackened by smoke damage.

The Rev Tony Cannon said he did not know when it would be able to be used again.

On Sunday, the congregation moved to a sister church of St Andrews, Kingham, for service and offers of help have come in from the local Methodist church, Kingham Hill School, and other community groups.

The Millennium rooms were added to the church through a special £130,000 project, and used for creches, Sunday school, youth groups and other community clubs.

Mr Cannon said: "Fortunately, the rooms including a kitchen were solidly made, and, though it's gutted and an absolute mess, we should be able to salvage them.

"Everyone round here has been absolutely brilliant, just mucking in to help and asking us how they can help and use their buildings. I have to say the fire brigade were wonderful. They got here within minutes of the alarm being raised and saved the rest of the church from ruin."

The fire was spotted at about 8.15pm by a local farmer.

At first he thought it was a bonfire he saw through the pub windows, but then rang the fire brigade on his mobile.

The Chipping Norton fire crew were joined by firefighters from Charlbury, Hook Norton, and Oxford, working to damp down the blaze until the early hours of Sunday.

Incident commander John Nixon said the crews were confronted by a severe fire in the ground floor when they arrived.

Teams of firefighters entered the church and brought the blaze under control. Although the fire was contained to parts of the ground floor, severe heat and smoke damage affected the rest of the church.

The cause of the blaze is still being investigated.