Hard-up cathedrals are begging for expert volunteers to come to the rescue and save England's crumbling national treasures.
The Association of English Cathedrals is looking for 'competent and experienced' volunteers as around half of their 42 Anglican cathedrals are in dire financial straits.
Cathedrals are visited by more than 10 million people each year and are seeing a surprising spike in attendance for regular services. However, many struggle to pay vast maintenance costs with some buildings almost 1,000 years old.
The army of volunteers will form a 'cathedral projects support panel', according to the Times, and will advice bosses and deans on business plans, renovations and expansions. The professions needed includes architects, financiers, retail managers, IT consultants, archaeologists and engineers, all of whom will be unpaid although there is a £10,000 fund for 'reasonable expenses'.
It comes after a review commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury found Church leaders were trained in preaching and pastoral guidance but not given teaching in managing large budgets, business plans and the major projects often involved with running cathedrals.
The 2014 report chaired by Lord Green, former chairman of HSBC, states: 'Leaders of the Church are priests, prophets, theologians, evangelists and heirs of the apostles. Alongside the apostolic call, bishops, like deans, are also responsible for extensive budgets and investment portfolios, for business and for process.'
But despite the lack of business training it is the dean and chapter who are typically tasked with running cathedrals, described as 'often the oldest and most complex historic building in a city' by Becky Clark, director of churches and cathedrals.
The Association seemed to agree as it admitted church bosses often need 'handholding' when coming up with briefs for big projects amid the 'extreme resource constraints' they are facing.
The Dean of Lichfield Cathedral and chair of the Association of English Cathedrals, the Very Rev Adrian Dorber, said the expert panel would act as 'wise elders' to share expertise and contacts.
'We've been concerned for a number of years about the big demands building projects put on cathedral staff and chapters,' he said according to the Times. 'Most of us are fairly small outfits with limited resources, but we have to do things very well and up to the standard the Church and state expect of us. Most of us have pretty big liabilities in terms of the upkeep and conservation of our buildings and sometimes getting the professional skills in [at the early stages of a project] can be very difficult.'
