Late artist's family joins fight against deathwatch beetles

Peter Wagon was famous in art circles for his paintings of buildings and views across Dacorum.

And now his family have donated one of his special one-off pieces to be raffled in aid of St Leonard’s Church, after it was discovered the building had an infestation of insects in the roof.

The Rev Tom Saunders, vicar at St Leonard’s, takes up the story.

He told the Gazette: “As a listed building we have to have inspections, and last year they discovered we had these beetles in the roof of the nave – the main building of the church.

“We don’t know how much it will cost, but it’s looking like a six-figure sum.”

While Mr Saunders has only been at St Leonard’s for 14 months, the church itself has been a part of the village landscape for more than 900 years.

And he has been taken aback by how quickly the village has rallied to support the fundraising campaign.

He said: “We’ll be applying for grants but we can’t do that until we know how much the repair work will cost.

“However Flamstead is a really community-minded place and everyone is already throwing their support behind the fundraising already.

“Peter Wagon’s family are always keen for anyone to be able to own his paintings – not just for those with the most money – so raffle tickets are being sold at the village shop, all three village pubs, and at Bespoke Printers in Hemel.”