The Churches Conservation Trust hosted a full day workshop in the hall at the Edgar Wood Rooms today, the title being, “A Stitch in Time”. The central theme being the importance of planned maintenance and the necessity of keeping the water and damp out of buildings.
On this themed workshop, it was ironic that on entering the hall, Christine looked up through one of the Diocletian windows and noticed damaged roof tiles. Unfortunately no amount of routine maintenance will prevent slates breaking at upper levels and damaging lower roofs! 
The lecture room was used this afternoon for the first time for its original purpose, following the restoration of the Edgar Wood Hall and Rooms completed in late 2018. The talk by Christine titled “Arts and Crafts Church – The Big Four” was given to a well informed group and was motivated by a talk given by Alec Hamilton the other year. Alec had been doing research into Arts and Crafts Churches and suggested that the four at the top of his list were ……….. 
The Methodist Church area synod was hosted in the hall with 140 delegates from across the region attending. This included workshop session in various rooms and the garden, but not horticultural!
On Sunday afternoon eighteen members of the Clarice Cliff Society visited, starting with a tour of the EW properties, followed by an introductory talk about EW, the Church and School Rooms followed by a viewing of the DVD ‘A Painted Veil’. A lot was packed into the afternoon and the sun was shining.
The morning started started early, the first to arrive was the electrician to repair an emergency exit sign, to be shortly followed by the EW Society gardeners. The Spring tidy had to be complete by the arrival time of a group of thirty from the Lighthouse Project, Walkers group. Thank you to the two ‘head gardeners’.
Mr. Les Coop the Chairman of the Greater Manchester Preservation Trust thanked the sponsors of the window restoration for their donations towards this work. Individual and group sponsors were represented. 
Yesterday on Tuesday 18th September two classes of seven year old children from Boarshaw Primary School visited Long Street Methodist Church. On route they looked at Edgar Wood’s house on Rochdale Road, before visiting the Parish Church and then via the park to Long Street. In the previous week Mr. Wood and his associate had visited the school to tell the children what Middleton was like in his day as a boy and how things had changed.
Although the weather kept many visitor away we did have a special day and time to talk to the visitors who had close connections with the Church and School Rooms. A cub and scout from the 1970’s had fond memories of the activities and leaders of the group and remembered overnight sleep overs on the balcony. Two sisters Sheila and Glynis were both married at Long Street, Sheila in Sept. 1963 and Glynis in March 1967. Sheila’s children were also Christened at the Church. Joan arrived with three programs from Gilbert and Sullivan productions, Mikado 1959, Pinafore 1960 and The Gondoliers 1961. Joan is clearly named in the School Girls Chorus of the operatic and it was good to have time to talk about other members of the cast, which we knew.
