Carmarthen's St Peter's Church takes tough measures to steel itself against vandals
STAINLESS steel grid panels will be placed over the windows of Carmarthen's St Peter's Church in an effort to improve security.
Reverend Leigh Richardson said the moves were being made following an attack last month which saw the large north window smashed by vandals.
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The Rev Leigh Richardson
Mr Richardson said: "It will look like Fort Knox here, but we have to take these steps to protect the church, it's not ideal to have the windows covered in that way but what else can we do?
"We are doing it on the advice of our architects, Caroe and Partners.
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"The grills and mesh are normally only deemed necessary where there has been high levels of vandalism or where the windows are particularly precious."
A further donation has been made by a member of the congregation towards costs to repair the window — estimated to be in the region of £10,000.
However the generous donor wants to remain anonymous.
Mr Richardson, who is Rector of the Rectorial Benefice of East Carmarthen, said: "This person is elderly and one day after our service said they would be back in a few minutes.
"They went to the bank and gave me a cheque for £1,000 towards the costs.
"It was completely unexpected but incredibly generous.
"We now have £5,000 towards repair work."
The anonymous donation follows £1,000 from Carmarthen building firm Bassett and MacGregor Construction and another firm which has given £3,000 but also wished to remain anonymous.
Looking back at the attack on August 14, which also saw graves desecrated to try and smash windows with broken masonry, Mr Richardson said he believed the window may have been smashed by the vandals without the use of gravestone pieces.
He added: "Because the wire mesh was bent I believe the window could have been smashed with just using their hands and feet, which is all the more shocking to think they could have climbed up to the window to do that."
Inspector Steve Lee at Carmarthen's Friars Park police station are still appealing for anyone with information about the attack to contact them via the force's non-emergency number, 101.
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