The physical structure of St. George’s Cathedral is falling down

Nov 06, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
The St. George’s Cathedral in Georgetown is in need of urgent repairs. I passed near that building actually every day. I was able to walk around that building a number of times. From my observation the walls of this magnificent church/cathedral is falling apart. The gutters are rotten and broken down, the yard is extremely dirty and vagrants and prostitutes sleep in that compound at nights. I passed early one morning and saw lots of vagrants sleeping on the building steps and platform. They eat, sleep and urine there yet the Priest or Bishop of that church turns a blind eye to the deplorable state of the building and the environment. For a place of worship this cathedral is extremely dirty and it seems as if the church board and our current administration don’t care if this building falls down tomorrow. All the paint on the walls is peeling off; it tells me clearly that this Cathedral was not cleaned nor painted in years. I saw a scaffold around it but no painting nor repairs being done.
It can fall to the ground anytime because the yard is like a semi-lake when it rains. The water doesn’t run off. It lodges in the yard around the building thus it undermines the structure’s foundation. Gradually this building’s foundation is sinking and the Cathedral can fall anytime. I hope it doesn’t fall with the members when a service is going on. I really hope not! The yard of this building needs filling and an urgent solid casting with steel in it to hold that foundation firmly; also proper drainage and irrigation. A fence needs to be erected around that building; a very high fence so vagrants and prostitutes won’t sleep their and proper security should be installed.
This building is a land mark in Guyana and we treat it very badly not the citizens but the Priest or Bishop who is responsible. It doesn’t seem to bother him that this building poses even a threat to the lives of its members and members of the public who drive around it. Should that building collapses many innocent people can die and it will cost billions to rebuild it. One of the problems in this country’s administration is we wait until something is completely destroyed then we try to rebuild it when it could have cost less if it was properly maintained. I Googled the following information about the St. George’s Catherdal from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Here is what is written:
‘’St. George’s Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Georgetown, Guyana and is one of the tallest wooden churches in the world, at a height of 43.5 metres (143 ft). It is the seat of the Bishop of Guyana. St. George’s was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and opened on 24 August 1892. The building was completed in 1899. It is located on Church Street in Georgetown, and has been designated a National Monument. The history of the Anglican Church in Guyana can be traced as far back as 1781, when the Reverend William Baggs, Chaplain to Sir George Rodney, came to Guyana.’’
From that information we learn that the Cathedral was completed in 1899 and that tells me that this building will be 117 years old at the end of this year. That is a very long time. This building needs general repairs, repainting in different attractive colours, a gated yard and some nice sweet smelling flowers in the compound because cleanliness is next to Godliness.
I guess the administrators of this building will ask the government to assist financially to repair this church. I wonder what they do with the church offerings and tithes. Even if government gives money, this church needs a competent body to maintain that building. I am calling on the relevant authorities to repair the St. George’s Cathedral urgently. Too many organizations always need government to bail them out financially because of their personal financial incompetence. The Anglican Church is a very huge organization. It’s about time the Cathedral’s hierarchy awake from their slumber and get this Cathedral repaired.
Rev.Gideon Cecil

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