The Lord Mayor of York, Coun Janet Looker, takes in the view from the top of York Minster, where she saw for for herself why clergy have launched a £23 million fundraising appeal.
Coun Janet Looker took a lift up the East Front, and was shocked to discover the extent that stonework appeared to have been weathered and eroded.
"It's just astonishing up there," she said. "We got a close look at it and some of the stonework is so weathered that it's hard to see the original carving."
She said the damage was so severe that it raised important health and safety issues for anyone standing on the ground below, particularly in the light of the accident a couple of years ago in which a tourist was killed by masonry falling from a York church.
Coun Looker's visit to the Minster was arranged after she attended the launch of the appeal, which is intended to pay for a massive, long-term refurbishment of the front and its famous stained glass window.
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