Official of St Peters Church are still reeling from the devastating blaze which ripped through the roof of the Tower and nave in the early hours of saturday morning. Coming on so soon after restoration work was completed, it has dashed any hope of having the church opened by Christmas. Seven fire engines and a turntable ladder arrived at the scene at 2.30am to find the roof blazing but firefighters had the flames under control within 2 hours, but by then 200meters of roof had been destroyed and the ground floor of the tower had been severely damaged. Canon David Towers was called from his bed shortly after the fire broke out to find firemen at the scene and the roof of the tower well alight. He was visibly shaken, but said it took several hours to get the fire under control-it hasn't sunk in yet. It's been a long haul to get this far and I'm sick at heart. Rt. Rev. Ronald Milner commented-the fire brigade managed to stop the fire getting to the body of the church-they were brilliant. The unknown cause of the blaze is being investigated but is thought to have started at the base of the 80ft tower.