Hi-vis and mighty: church seats stay

♦ A church can keep its “hi-vis” chairs after a diocese head admitted he could not remember whether permission had been given for them.

All Saints Church in Higher Walton, Lancs, removed its pews and replaced them with upholstered chairs in 2015. But the Victorian Society, a conservation charity, objected to the “bright red” furniture.

John Bullimore, chancellor for the diocese of Blackburn, admitted: “The colour is rather startling in its intensity. The colour appears to me more orange, the colour of a hi-vis safety jacket.” However, he said the church could keep the chairs as he had “no recollection” of ruling against them.