The copper roof of the Anglican Cathedral has reached its life expectancy and is showing signs of old age.

Now the community at large is being asked to rally behind the restoration work which is soon to be carried out on one of Hamilton's - and Bermuda's - most historic landmarks.

The copper plate roof replaced a tile roof that was damaged by hurricanes in 1926.

Copper roofs have a life expectancy of between 60 and 80 years and after several years of deterioration, the condition of the roof on the Cathedral has become a major concern with flooding within the chancel and other parts of the interior.

Two years ago the Cathedral fund-raising group organised an event that enabled resources to be made available for a thorough investigation of the whole roof.

"In order to be accurate in our evaluation we first invited Norman and Underwood from England to investigate the condition of the roof," church officials stated in the 'Raise the Roof' brochure which has been distributed.

"The company has an international reputation that includes gilding the roof of the Dome on the Rock in Jerusalem. A second opinion was sought from Heather and Little of Canada.

"They, too, are internationally known and have been involved in the repair and replacement of copper roofs in Canada and the United States."

Both conveyed similar information that:

Copper roofs have a life of 60 to 80 years maximum.

The roof of the Cathedral has deteriorated to an advanced condition at several places where the copper roof joins the masonry building, which is allowing an ingress of water.

Screws holding down the roof are dislodged because of damage which has been caused to the wood below the copper and the roof is lifting during the winds.

A repair could be attempted that may last five years maximum which is not a viable alternative.

The copper roof needs replacing as a matter of urgency (certainly within 12 months) in order that the wooden substrates are not permanently damaged by rainwater. This would alleviate the need for extensive timber replacement at a far greater cost.

"When both companies were doing their examination, in a lot of areas they were taking a pen knife, pressing on the copper and it was going right through," explained Canon Keith Wassail. "It is so thin.

"It (repair work) is going to be such a significant event because it's not going to happen again in our lifetime. It is a unique lifetime experience for everybody on this Island.

"It will start off as a brown copper colour and then they'll see change in the first four or five years with the weather."

The estimate of the repair work, which includes some stonework and repairing of electrical wiring, is estimated to cost $1,850,000 and noted businessman and former Premier, Sir John Swan, has agreed to act as an advisor and to use his contacts to help assist with the raising of funds.

It is hoped to start the restoration work in March, with the repairs taking between four and six months.

"Under the copper is what we call a wood surface which is what holds the copper to the roof," explained Vestry member Vince Ingham during a tour of the Cathedral earlier this week.

"At the moment you can see where some of the panels are buckling and what's happening is there are some screws that have become unfixed and the panels are actually lifting when there is winds.

"If water starts getting under those panels and gets into the wood we can have rotting of the wood and that's even a more serious restoration effort if we have to replace all the wood substrates as well as the copper."

Added Mr. Ingham: "There is no visual signs inside the Cathedral to suggest we're getting dry rot, but based on the fact that the screws are popping out suggest to us that the wood battens have rotted away."

Warned Bishop Ewen Ratteray: "They did lift up on the corners and things appear to be good, but once they strip it off it might be another story. We're reasonably confident that it's okay."

Mr. Ingham read with interest, recently, an article about a similar restoration project being undertaken in a Cathedral in the United States. Their repair estimates ran into the tens of millions of dollars.

"It was an article on the St. Paul Cathedral in Minneapolis where they have a $35 million roof restoration effort ongoing right now and their problem is the wood has in fact been damaged and they are replacing the entire wood substrates which is a major effort they are in the midst of as we speak," said Mr. Ingham.

As well as replacing the roof, there is also an urgent need to undertake repairs to the interior stonework which is showing signs of serious deterioration. That is evident in the Warrior Chapel, around some windows and the west door in particular, while the exposed wiring needs replacing as it is both old and in dangerous condition. Bits of masonry have been falling inside the church.

Bishop Ratteray said he noticed the leaking since he became Bishop about five years ago. It was only during thorough inspection that the extent of the damage was realised.

"Initially the response was to do some remedial work, unblock drains, and the hope was that what we were seeing was some leakage around the perimeter of the structure," said Mr. Ingham.

"But it's an 80-year-old roof, it's reached the end of its life and we felt maybe we better have proper inspection done and that is what we've done.

"It's through that inspection that we recognise the importance of replacing the roof now. The whole roof has to be scaffolded. It's the sort of roof we hope only needs attention once every 80 years!"

Said Bishop Ratteray: "It's a one-off for us. We intend to carry on business as usual, we will obviously have to adapt. Inside won't look any different but it will look a mess outside because of the scaffolding, but that's unavoidable."

Letters have been sent out to companies and individuals soliciting donations for the repair work.

"Response has been a little slow, to be honest, but we're hoping that will improve," said Bishop Ratteray.

"We hope to start the work in March, assuming we get the necessary funds. We have raised just over $500,000 and that's about half of what we need to get started."

Mr. Ingham admits there exists both a significant sum of money required to repair the roof and an urgency in having the work carried out.

"There is an urgency because of the condition of the roof, an urgency because if we don't start soon we could be facing an even larger and more mammoth task if we have to do further repair to the roof," he stressed.

"We're hoping the responses from the corporations and individuals that we have written to will be positive and supportive and we can get this on the way."

Added Mr. Ingham: "Sir John is a prominent individual in this community and we felt it would help with our fund-raising effort if we had someone of his stature involved with us.

"This is the type of fund-raising effort that is relying on people's goodwill and it's a big job for the Anglican community on its own. The more businesses and individuals we can get involved in this the easier the effort becomes.

"Sir John is a key player in helping us to touch bases with institutions and organisations and we believe it is going to be a successful effort. Letters were sent out weeks ago from both Sir John and the Bishop.

"If we can start it early there is the opportunity that we can get a discounted price from our contractor. So we're taking advantage of labour rates that can be offered now, but as we go further into the year cannot be offered."