Show sells part of city cathedral

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Paul Stainton on top of Peterborough Cathedral

A well known supermarket tells us that every little helps and, with that in mind, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire nicked a little bit of Peterborough Cathedral.

The Paul Stainton Breakfast Show have sold a piece of the iconic structure on auction website eBay.

On a recent trip to the building's roof presenter Paul came up with the cunning idea to help fundraising efforts.

Canon Richard Cattle gave the scheme the go-ahead and he was duly rewarded after the lump of rubble went for £21.

The small piece of stone was sold to a Peterborough resident

Bidding war

Peterborough Cathedral is trying to raise £30,000 towards essential conservation but of course that target is now down to £29,979 thanks to the sale.

The auction sparked a bidding war between locals who were keen to possess a small part of Peterborough history and nine offers were made before the auction closed with the total at £21.

The piece of stone, which is slightly bigger than a 50 pence piece, was accompanied on the website by the phrase 'God bless you for bidding'.

Canon Cattle said: "I'm glad the bidder has a sense of humour because we need a lot of people around here with senses of humour."

When it was suggested that more debris from the cathedral roof be sold in the gift shop the canon was all ears.

"I shall see that we do something quite like that, that's excellent," he said. "We still need another £29,500 plus.

However, when Paul volunteered to create more debris for souvenirs, the canon had to put his foot down.

"Getting more rubble could be counterproductive," he laughed. "We're busy putting it back up again not taking it down."

Peterborough Cathedral has numerous initiatives to try and raise money. For more details contact them on 01733 355 315. You can listen to Paul Stainton every weekday morning 7-9am on 95.7FM.