Young volunteers in clean-up project at historic city church

The teenagers, including some from New York and Germany, were waxing the church’s mediaeval doors yesterday. They have also hoovered the vaulted arcades of the nave using a cherrypicker and cleaned each of the tiles on the nave’s floor beneath. They have even taken up the cast-iron heating grates in the aisles as part of the spruce-up.

The project is organised by Cathedral Camps, which is in its 30th year of conserving churches and cathedrals.

The church, which dates back to about 1300, was where the abolitionist William Wilberforce was baptised.

Sarah Harris-Smith, a former Cathedral Camps leader and now a member of the congregation, said they had got five sacks of dirt and cobwebs from the arcades alone, adding: “It’s the stuff the normal cleaning team can’t do.

“The team has been working really hard and we are really starting to see the impact now.”

The group has been staying at Clergy House, which belongs to Church of the Holy Apostles in Walker Street. Mrs Harris-Smith said: “From our point of view we have enough work for several weeks of camps and we will be inviting them back next year.”