Peter Watson was born in London and moved to Yardley Gobion in 1972 when he got married. In 1978 he moved to Potterspury, where he still resides. He worked for a national building contractor until setting up his own consultancy in 1990.

He became involved with St Mary & St Giles as soon as he moved up to this area and was on the Parish Church Council from 1976 until 1988. Because of his background, he was responsible for the maintenance of the building.

"All the repairs to the church have to be carried out in accordance with a scheme of specification put forward to the diocesan advisory committee. Every diocese has an advisory committee and the church council must apply for an arch deacon's certificate for any repairs which basically means that the authorities for the diocese have to give approval for any repairs or changes and the materials have to be, in this case, stone to match the existing.

"Every five years a report is produced. A survey is carried out by an architect appointed by the parochial church council and diocesan advisory committee, called a quinquennial report. This would make recommendations of what work needs to be done. This is sent to the church council and vicar and they have to take on board as many of the repairs as they can on a routine basis. Simple things like cleaning out the gutters get done voluntarily and larger projects, when funds are available using whatever resources can be scraped together.

"There were ten people on the council, each allocated to a specific task. The council met once a month. I looked after maintenance."
There was a big fund-raising activity to raise money to do repair work to the tower. There was a restoration committee who organised events such as a bazaar every Christmas. One of the things Peter was involved in was seeking grants from people such as the Historic Churches Fund, MK Council, Department of the Environment, Bucks Historic Churches etc
This picture and the one above on the left show the crumbling brickwork prior to restoration.