Following the news that the Diocese of Menevia think it will cost £2.6 million to repair an existing parish Church I thought it might be interesting to research just what sort of things one can do with 2.6 million pounds....

Build a 15 Bedroom Dementia Unit

Up in Carlisle the Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust is building a new dementia unit for £2.6 million.. "The unit has been dubbed a 21st century facility for people with dementia. It will provide 15 en-suite bedrooms in a calm, safe environment – innovatively designed to help people with the devastating illness."

Perhaps the Diocese of Menevia's quote for repairing the existing Church in Aberwystwyth includes 15 en-suite bedrooms?

Upgrade the Electricity Infrastructure of an Entire Town...

Meanwhile down in Dover we see that £2.6 million is being spent upgrading the electricity infrastructure that keeps the lights on in Dover. "The 24 panels of new 11,000 volts switchgear look similar to computer data centre panels, with buttons and flashing lights. Each one is about 8ft tall and 4ft wide and together they weigh about 2.4tonnes. Although it is bulky, the equipment is lighter and easier for the engineers to work with. "

Perhaps the Diocese of Menevia plan to buy 24 panels of 11,000 volts switchgear? The 8ft tall data centre panels could be tacked one on top of the other and used to support the roof?

Build a sports hall, boxing and fitness area and youth facility...

Over in Northern Ireland there is a project to construct a Sports and Wellbeing centre. "The £2.6million project includes a full size, four-court, sports hall, state of the art boxing and fitness area and a youth facility."

I wonder if the Diocese of Menevia were thinking of mending the existing Church in Aberwystwyth by constructing a four-court sports hall inside? The hall would not only protect Mass-goers from falling masonry but it would also protect them from glimpsing any traditional architecture during the Eucharistic prayer?

Open a facility for Additive Layer Manufacturing...

My old haunt of The University of Exeter has just got a new £2.6 million Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing that will "include the UK’s only EOSINT P800, which can build parts at temperatures up to 385°C and was the world’s first system that enables production using high-performance polymers. These materials, including EOS PEEK HP3, are mechanically strong, and wear-resistant in the toughest of operating environments. Parts made of PEEK are being developed as an alternative to metals for applications including aerospace parts and medical instruments."

I'm not sure if the Diocese of Menevia plan to support the roof of the existing Church with EOSINT P800 machines stacked one on top of the other or alternatively, perhaps they want to use such a machine to 'print' replacement parts for the Church?

Repair and Refurbish an old Church

I'm not naive, I realise that repairing old masonry is specialist work that doesn't come cheap. Understanding the stresses in arches, spotting weaknesses in stonework, cutting stones to size. These things are all a bit harder than filling a hole in the wall at home.

But £2.6 million pounds? That's a ludicrous sum of money. You could employ five expert stonemasons at £100k per annum for two years, buy 1000 stones for £1000 pounds each and still have 600k left over for a work Christmas party.

I'm sorry, but the figure of £2.6 million is simply not credible at all.