Tower of 2p's

The idea of building a tower came from Father Richard Ferguson in 1993 when he suggested we build one during a parish fete and see how high we could go in five hours and hope to create an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. A couple of years later we decided it was better to build the tower gradually over a year and each year it had raised between "200-300 for Church Funds, usually towards our mission society, U.S.P.G.

The tower has as a core a steel cylinder just over nine feet tall and the coins are fitted round it, each circuit taking 15 coins. Many people put aside their 2p's every night because of the weight in a purse of pocket so they are always ready to drop them in the bucket at the foot of the tower. Other coins, especially 1p's and 5p's, are also donated and are changed at the bank into 2p's.

On Monday, January 22nd (2007), Children (Year 2) from the Church Combined School joined in counting the coins as the tower was progressively demolished. Everyone was astounded when the total reached £350, being 17800 coins with a total weight of 278lb (126kg) or 2 and-a-half cwt.

The money from the tower will be taken out by three member of St. Mary's church to St. Paul's village in the island of St. Kitts where our link missionary, Fr. Derek Sawyer, is working. He is trying to improve employment in the village, hit hard by the loss of the sugar cane industry, by creating a market garden and rebuilding the school house as a holiday rental.

David Jewell.