A Bradford company has helped repair an historic church damaged when vandals smashed a stolen car into the building.
Saltaire United Reformed Church was left with smoke damage to its exterior and the church hall and fire-damaged toilets after a Vauxhall Cavalier was driven into a stairwell leading to the basement and set on fire in July.
After reading about the incident in the Telegraph & Argus, Bradford firm Kue Group offered to remove the black marks left by smoke from the side of the building. The cleaning work began yesterday.
The company first cleaned the church in Victoria Road using a special low-pressure system about 30 years ago, when it also treated smoke-blackened Salts Mill.
Sales director Malcolm Rose said when the firm heard about the fire, staff were keen to help. "The cleaning is being done free of charge with only the cost of hiring a platform to pay for," he said.
Mr Rose said the system ensures none of the stonework on the listed building is damaged.
"We stepped in because we did the work originally and all live in the area," he said.
The work, which used water with a small amount of abrasive, took about three hours to complete and will be drying for a few days.
Mr Rose said operators removed the smoke but did not clean the stone totally so the colour would match the rest of the building.
The church's property steward Hans Poot said church members are thrilled. "It's certainly very kind of Kue Group to do it for nothing," he said. "It's very nice."
Some of the church's stonework cracked or turned pink with the heat and some stones were pushed nearly six inches out of place when the car hit them.
Mr Poot said the priority is now to reinstate toilets inside the church which were damaged by the fire. "I should think so far the repairs have already cost us £1,000," he said.
The repair work is being co-ordinated by Saltaire architects Rance, Booth & Smith. Partner Tim Smith said the third and final phase would be repairing the damaged stones and lifting them back into place.
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