Every Church of England cathedral is set to receive a generous bequest from a man who loved cathedrals.
Frank Buzzard, who passed away last year, left £4,000 to all the cathedrals in his will after visiting each of them during his retirement. His favourite was Lichfield, for which he left £5,000.
Mr Buzzard, a keen poet, wrote a guide for each of them. His daughter Christine Wild told Premier her dad found cathedrals to be a place of "deep spirituality".
Wild said: "He found cathedrals, a place of great spirituality. For him, they presented Christianity in this country. And he thought of all the people that had worshipped in those buildings before him, you know, in previous centuries."
Mr Buzzard, raised in the Church of England, trained as an accountant and eventually established his own company. His initial job took him to Peterborough, where he rented a place in the cathedral precincts. Later, he moved to Sutton Coldfield, where he discovered Lichfield Cathedral, eventually becoming his favourite and frequent place.
His passion for cathedrals led him to write 'A Pilgrimage Around The Cathedrals of England', 172 pages offering a guide to all 42 Church of England cathedrals.
A snippet from his guide to Ely Cathedral reads:" I had just glimpsed the cathedral, grey as a battleship across the sea flat fens when a signpost announced thirteen miles to Ely. It is lovely to see a cathedral from a long distance stretching radiance over the wide acres of its Diocese…
"Everybody has heard of Ely's unique octagonal central tower with lantern, built by Alan of Walsingham after the original tower collapsed in 1322. I sat directly underneath where the spandrels seemed to curl over me, hanging in space almost without support; 400 tons of timber and lead giving an impression of weightlessness.
"To those who first saw it in the 14th Century, it must have been the greatest wonder of the world."
Wild concluded: "This is a reflection of my dad's faith. He was such a committed believer. And it's all about what these cathedrals are really here for, which is to worship the Lord Jesus, isn't it? And that's the most important thing, getting people in to hear about Him. And if what he has written in any way makes anybody think, 'Oh, I will just go in and find out for myself', then that has to be a good thing, doesn't it?".