St Mary's Parish Church in Beachamwell, Norfolk, held its first carol service in nearly two years following a fire that caused significant damage to the building on Saturday. The blaze in February 2022 destroyed the roof just before the church was set to reopen after lead theft in 2019.
While restoration is still ongoing, over 70 people attended the service in the partially restored church. Tony Mills, licensing minister, told the BBC: "Now we are back in the church in the house of God and it's wonderful." He added that it was "absolutely wonderful" to be singing carols "in the right place," noting that "in the medieval days it would have been a dirt floor and there wouldn't have been glass in the windows, so we are back to where we were as much as 1,000 years ago."
Though the church was able to host the event, work on the interior is still needed. The ceiling requires restoration, while the building needs replastering, and the flooring, electrics, and heating need to be installed.
Peter Berendt, the church warden, explained that carol services had been held in the village hall since the fire. "Now we have got the church to a state where it's weatherproof… it seemed we had a space we could use," he said.
He concluded: “The future of the building is certainly looking bright. It has stood for 1,000 years, and our renovations and restoration are designed to at least make it stand for another 1,000 years. Once we've done it, we shouldn't have any major costs to pay for at least 30 years.”