Brick company aids Minskip village church

Bricks were donated by the firm to enable St John’s Church to restore its wall, according to church warden Robert Beaumont.

He commented: “We were absolutely devastated when we saw the extensive damage the out-of-control car had done to our wall. It was heart-breaking.

“As a small church, we were struggling to find the funds to restore the wall to its former glory, so this gift from York Handmade has made all the difference.

“The driver and his passengers left the scene as soon as they could, taking their smashed-up car with them, but they left their registration plate embedded in the wall.

“They were subsequently traced by the police but no-one admitted to being the driver, meaning a conviction would be hard to achieve.

“This left the church council feeling very angry indeed and we are currently pursuing compensation.

“But the generosity of York Handmade has improved our mood, underlining the fact that kind acts often follow selfish and destructive ones.

“We are now very honoured to have special bricks in our church wall from a company which has been involved in award-winning projects across the UK, including the Shard, and York Racecourse.

David Armitage, chairman of York Handmade Brick, said: “We are absolutely delighted to help St John’s Church.”

“As luck would have it, we had some bricks which almost exactly matched the 19th century church wall.

“Looking at the wall now, I think it’s impossible to tell where our bricks begin and end.

“We pride ourselves in helping the local North Yorkshire community when we can and this was a project which suited us perfectly.

“St John’s is a lovely little church, and an important part of village life, and we know how upset villagers were when the wall was wrecked. We are so happy to have played our part in its restoration.”