The Parochial Church Council of Lonan and Laxey have had to close All Saints Church, Lonan until further notice.
This follows a survey of the electrical installation of the church which declared the whole system to be dangerously unsafe, with a risk to life as well as the danger of a fire. They were instructed to shut off the power supply immediately.
The cost for repairs to the electrical system it has been estimated could be as high as ?25,000.
This is not the full limit limit of the work needed.
Woodworm has been discovered in the church floor in the central aisle area and cannot be used without immediate remedial action. Further work has been revealed by a recent Surveyor's inspection of the building amounting to many tens of thousands of pounds to make the building safe and weather tight.
The Archdeacon of Man, the Venerable Andrew Brown commented: "This has been a difficult time for the Church Council and for the faithful congregation in Lonan. However, the parish are blessed to have a lovely church building in Laxey as well as the wonderful Old Kirk Lonan. And I ask people to remember that a church is not the building but the people, and urge them to pull together in Christian fellowship at this time".
In the meantime the Parochial Church Council are moving all services to the newly refurbished and wonderfully warm Christ Church, Laxey, where everyone will be sure of a welcome.
