Churchwarden pleas for help as St Mary Stoke church, Ipswich, left in complete darkness

A churchwarden has pleaded for help as her church building has been left ‘in complete darkness’.

Pamela Geoghegan, the warden at St Mary Stoke, told Ipswich’s South West Area committee yesterday about the struggles her church had been facing with the breakdown of the spotlights outside the building.

She had been told, five weeks ago, that the lights were due for an upgrade to LED lighting.

However, Ms Geoghegan has since been told the council, despite managing the lights for the last 20 years, would no longer be able to support lighting at the site.

She said: “Suddenly we have got no lighting and no prospect of having lighting.

“We’ve just had to pay for a new roof on the church and we don’t have money set aside for lighting, which is probably going to be quite expensive — we don’t have money set aside.”

With the church grounds have been the target of criminal behaviour, and the darkness now setting in earlier, concerns were raised over safety.

Ms Geoghegan continued: “Over the years we’ve had a lot of problems with county lines and drug users using the grounds of the church, particularly in dark spots.

“I need two or three people to come out together. You wouldn’t want to be going in or coming out on your own.

“I need two or three people to come out together, you wouldn’t want to be going in or coming out on your own.

“Someone was even assaulted on the grounds recently — it’s not safe.”

During the meeting, councillors showed their interest in looking into the issue as soon as possible.

With uncertainty over whose responsibility it is to deal with that specific lighting, however, certain questions need to be explored first.

Cllr Philip Smart, who took on the responsibility, said: “We are trying to get to the bottom of whose lights they are, and who pays the electricity bill.

“I will do my best to get to the bottom of the issue and get it resolved satisfactorily.

“It’s not that the council doesn’t want to do anything, we do want to resolve the issue.”

Ms Geoghegan said she was grateful for the councillors’ interest and intervention.

She added: “I can see light at the end of the tunnel, I know it’s not definite, but I am quite overwhelmed and thankful.”