Volunteers pay to clean up bird droppings from Durham Cathedral

Aug 14 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

A TEAM of dedicated young volunteers have paid for the privilege of cleaning bird droppings from Durham Cathedral.

Fourteen “cathedral campers”, aged 17 to 19, are spending a week of their holidays giving the 1,000-year-old building a facelift.

The clean up came as Durham was named most popular cathedral in the world on social networking site Facebook.

Philip Davies, the Chapter Clerk and administrator of the Durham Cathedral Facebook page, explained: “Six weeks ago Durham Cathedral went on Facebook and attracted many fans from all over the world. As of today, these number more than 1,230 which makes us the most popular cathedral.

“I’m really pleased with the success of the Facebook page after so short a time. It shows a very high level of interest in the cathedral and it’s particularly pleasing that the vast majority of the fans who’ve registered on the page are under the age of 30.

“Our job is to develop their interest further by providing information about events and services so that they can keep in contact with the daily life of the cathedral. We are also planning to Twitter and to podcast very soon.

“Durham Cathedral might be an ancient institution, but it is using modern technology.”

For the remainder of this week, and part of next, the Cathedral Campers will carry out their annual clean-up of the cathedral. This year volunteers have travelled from as far as France and Germany - and paid £100 - to help clean pigeon droppings from towers, paint railings and vacuum hidden parts.

Team leader Jenny Allen, at 23 a veteran of cathedral camps but a first-time visitor to Durham, said: “I enjoy the work, the sense of giving something back to the community.”

The trainee solicitor from Guildford, Surrey, added: “I have been to cathedral camps at Canterbury, Edinburgh and Lichfield and I really wanted to spend some time in Durham.

“It is somewhere I had never been before.

“We are staying self-catering at Durham School and we are looking forward to seeing some of the city in our spare time.

“The work is hard, but the social side is fun. None of us knew each other before we all met this week.”