Enigma - A Murder Mystery presented by The Alternate Shadows

A Fund Raising Event with Rochester Cathedral.

'ENIGMA'

"There is a dead man on the Cathedral floor. Did the Captain of the Home Guard think he was a spy? Then there’s the lady from the tea shop. Did she kill him in a jealous rage because he was flirting with the local barmaid? Why was Reverend Pilbright so very distraught? And who was the stranger in the Crypt? This is a tough one for Insp Grimpole."

Be there to see him solve a very enigmatic mystery!

We had a great evening on Friday 1^st April 2011 and all net funds raised went to support the Development Fund at Rochester Cathedral.

A personal message from the Dean

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Today at 10.30am I will be at St Paul’s Cathedral for the public announcement that I have been appointed the next Bishop of Stepney. My new role represents a return to my roots in urban ministry, and while I will relish the opportunity to work in one of the most challenging and exciting parts of the country, I will be very sad to leave the Cathedral, Rochester, and Medway. These last six years have been a great privilege, and I will carry with me an enormous number of precious memories.

My final Sunday here will be 3 July. In the afternoon at evensong (3.15pm) there will be a formal farewell and I hope that you might be able to set that date aside in your diary.

After being consecrated (as a Bishop) on 22 July we will move from the Deanery to our new home in Mile End at the beginning of August. The Bishop will appoint Phil Hesketh as Acting Dean once I have gone, so you can be confident that the Cathedral is in good hands, and will continue to serve the community with energy and commitment.

The Church of England will initiate an appointments process for a new Dean, but these things move very slowly and it is likely that it will be the Summer of 2012 before the next Dean of Rochester arrives.

There will be plenty of time for goodbyes in due course. For now I am fully focused here, and will look forward to meeting up with you once the dust has settled from today’s announcement!

Adrian

Fun Quiz Night

We had a great evening in the Crypt on Saturday 5th February when we held our Quiz Night. Over 100 people joined us and we raised over £600 which will go towards the Cathedral's Development projects.

Special thanks to Rob Ryan and Colin Tolhurst for their Question Master skills and technical expertise, along with Andrew Coulson. Our scorers; Angela Watson together with Colin and Sheila Thompson did a fantastic job. They were so quick and kept up fantastically.

The evening was finished off by entertainment from David Sandon and his Barbershop Sextet. Thank you all and most especially to everyone that came along to support us.

Support from The Friends of Rochester Cathedral

We are very grateful to The Friends of Rochester Cathedral who have advised us of funding for two significant projects in the Cathedral.

The first is the Tudor Gate which is positioned in the railings enclosing the Cloister Garth to the south of the Cathedral and is badly in need of conservation and repair. The door frame is believed to be late 15th or early 16th century. We are also very grateful to the Ironmongers' Company who have very kindly agreed to fund the new wrought iron gate.

The second project is the Cathedral clock which has sadly lost it's chime and needs a substantial amount of work  to them to be restored. It will also be given a full overhaul. We look forward to proceeding with both these projects, the value of which are £28,510.

The tower clock at Rochester Cathedral has been put out of commission this week (25th January 2011) so that work, financed by the Friends of Rochester Cathedral, can be undertaken by clock engineers Gillett and Johnston.  The works will cover a range of items but fundamentally the clock and bell hammers will be removed to the Gillett and Johnston workshops for an overhaul, clean up and repairs.

The clock workings will be off site for approximately 8-10 weeks but the face of the clock will remain and the hands will be positioned at 12 o’clock.  While it’s in the workshop it will be rebuilt and monitored . The moving parts and bell hammers will be thoroughly cleaned and any parts that are in bad shape will be replaced.  The clock will be re-built and returned to site and reinstalled.

The three motors that drive the clock will also be replaced by gear driven motors that run more efficiently; the current motors date back to the early 70’s and they contain mercury so they need to be removed. Each motor has a different role to play with in the operation of the clock.  One motor winds the clock up – the clock is still mechanically driven by its original method and if it wasn’t for this motor someone would have run up to the tower once a week to wind the clock up.  One motor winds the springs for quarter chimes and the final motor winds the springs for the hourly strike.

When the clock returns and is up and running the quarterly and hourly strike of the bells will again be operational and make a very welcome return. The chimes have been greatly missed over Rochester. The night silencer will also be re-instated – this is a separate unit that stops the bells from ringing over night.  In addition a pendulum regulator will be fitted to the clock.  This is remotely controlled and will ensure that the clock keeps accurate time.

Unfortunately the Cathedral does not have enough funding available at the moment for any work to the dial of the clock which means the actual hands on the three faces will not be removed. This would cost a further £5,000 plus scaffolding charges, so the funding search is ongoing.

The funders of this project, The Friends of Rochester Cathedral, play a very important role in maintaining the fabric of the Cathedral. Chairman, Mr Bob Ratcliffe said, “We are delighted to be able to fund this project and I am looking forward to hearing the bells ring out over the City after a long period of silence”.