RENOVATIONS at St. Macartin's Cathedral in Enniskillen are to begin in April, as the historic landmark, now in its 400th year, faces the major task of re-roofing the cathedral.

Speaking of the task ahead, the Dean of St. Macartin's Cathedral, the Very Reverend Kenneth Hall, said: "Very soon scaffolding will be erected around our cathedral, commencing the major task of re-roofing our historic building dedicated to St. Macartin.

"The cathedral has stood the test of time for 400 years, and is a well-known landmark in Enniskillen town, as well as witness to the Christian faith handed on to us from generations past."

However, with the ongoing pandemic, the original fundraising plans for the £400,000 re-roofing project have been somewhat curtailed.

Talking about the difficulty of fundraising during a pandemic, Dean Hall said: “We had a big concert planned – Declan Nerney was to play last year, but that had to be cancelled. It was rescheduled for this year, and had to be cancelled again.

"Had circumstances been different, we would have been able to hold many fundraising activities, such as concerts, coffee mornings, sales etc, but all of that is not now possible.

"So, instead, I came up with the idea of selling the slates for the roof," added Dean Hall.

"There are 10,000 slates on the roof, and if we ask people to provide [through parishioners' ticket sales] 20 slates, we could raise £100,000 in this venture alone and this will bring in about 25 per cent of the overall cost," he said.

Parishioners are invited to get a small book of 20 tickets for 20 slates, costing £10 apiece, to sell to friends, family, and anyone who would like to help support the cathedral in this way.

In this manner, with the generosity and support of parishioners, Dean Hall is hopeful that the slates' ticket sales could help raise a significant portion of the re-roofing costs.

Dean Hall also added how much he values parishioners giving what they affordably can in their Free Will Offering, and also in the monthly Cathedral Roof Fund envelopes, with their kind charity greatly appreciated.

The money for the new roof needs to be raised by the end of June; however, the re-roofing works are scheduled to begin in April and should be finished by November, Dean Hall told The Impartial Reporter.

“Then we’re going to paint it in January," he said, adding: "We are going to stay open for all of it, except the repainting part. We are repainting the inside of [the roof] so we have to move out to the hall, but we will be open [during the work on the roof] as the scaffolding will not be on the driveway of the cathedral, it will be behind it.

“We hope to be back in before Easter next year.”

Noting that the cathedral is a very important feature in the middle of Enniskillen, Dean Hall added: "We really want the cathedral to be a community building in the town; it’s open to all. It’s open to everyone."

As the cathedral is celebrating 400 years this year, Dean Hall had hoped to have a celebratory event, but at the moment this is also not possible due to the pandemic.

He said: “We had it all planned, if restrictions had been lifted, but we just can’t plan anything [because of the restrictions].

“We still, hopefully, will do that, but it all depends how things progress this year, but certainly you couldn’t really plan anything at the moment; you’re curtailed until restrictions are lifted,” Dean Hall told this newspaper.