SCAFFOLDING is set to return to Hereford Cathedral following a £118,000 grant from English Heritage to re-build one of the three turrets of the central tower.

Work will begin in April and is expected be completed in Spring 2005.

Eventually it is hoped all three corner turrets will be re-built, along with re-leading the roofs of the tower and the north-west transept.

"We will see scaffolding on the tower again," said the Very Rev Michael Tavinor, Dean of Hereford. "Only a few years ago we were celebrating the fact that the scaffolding around the tower had disappeared - the first time in 35 years. But repairing the cathedral is like the Forth Bridge - it never finishes."

Previous funds from English Heritage of £1.2 million have enabled work to be carried out on the external east end of the Lady Chapel, which is due to be completed by March this year, followed by a dedication two months later.

The Dean added: "Without English Heritage grants it is very unlikely that we would ever have had enough resources to do the Lady Chapel and this latest grant will enable vital work to be carried out on other repairs of our lovely cathedral."

And what of 2005? Over £5 million of essential repairs has been identified by the cathedral architect, Michael Reardon, and these must be prioritised.

"The trouble is the English Heritage grants, although so helpful, are smaller than they were in the early 1990s and it is by no means certain that they will continue into the future. I do hope they do," said the Dean.

"But this is why it is so important to have groups who support the cathedral financially and enable this work to be done - the Perpetual Trust, the Friends, the Mappa Mundi Trustees - these, with English Heritage, are vital to the future health of the cathedral."