Mr Myers with the restored window in Clifton Parish Church, York
A heartening tale of a man who takes Do It Yourself to new heights, and quite dizzying heights at that!
This is a great story that we noticed in the York Press this week (click the image above to see the original story – image is the property of The Press).
Tony Myers was concerned about the cost of renovating a window frame in Clifton Parish Church, Yorkshire, where he has been warden for many years, and so he decided to do some repairs himself rather than call in a stonemason. It is impressive enough that Mr Myers had to scale the 70 foot bell tower to do this, but how much more impressive that is when you learn he is 80 years old.
So why did he do this – in true Yorkshire style he was being careful with money!
Mr Myers said: “It could have cost thousands, but I reckon we did it for £15.” adding “I’m not frightened of heights so it was no problem,”
He took his safety seriously though and had assistance form a local experienced mountaineer Paul Brown, who hoisted scaffolding planks up to the belfry as safety barriers. Then the two worked on a narrow ledge wearing safety harnesses.
No doubt the parish is very grateful for their efforts, and the Vicar Clifton Parish Church’s Rev Canon David Casswell acknowledged their efforts had saved the church community a great deal of money. He went on to say:
“Health and safety has become important, but Tony is from a time before health and safety even existed.” He said most 80-year-olds would not even think of taking on such a task, but age does not stop Tony. It’s great to have people like that.” Rev Canon David Casswell
We salute you Mr Myers and lets hope we can all boast that we are doing DIY in our eighties!
If you are planning on working at height but don’t have access to a local friendly mountaineer, why not check out our project on scaffolding, which explains how much scaffolding you need and how to use it.
