Saturday, May 07, 2011

With hope and a prayer


Despite skyrocketing costs, tiny congregation renovates 113-year-old Cartwright church

Early in the restoration of their 113-year-old stone Anglican church here, the congregation made a curious discovery.

Parishioners of three generations ago apparently found a unique use for their old Winnipeg Free Press newspapers, other than for lining pantry shelves and wrapping fish guts.

The congregation laid the newspapers in a herring-bone pattern beneath the church carpets so they wouldn't slip. The newspapers, dated 1923, survived in mint condition.

That's a less-serious footnote to the restoration project that turned into a 10-year odyssey. More serious was how the congregation of about 25 parishioners found itself in the middle of a $300,000 undertaking.

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