Introduction Salisbury Cathedral is an icon in the British landscape and is known worldwide not only for its aesthetic quality but for its distinguishing features. It has the tallest spire, the largest Close, the best preserved exemplar of Magna Carta (one of the four remaining original copies), a works department which preserves now rare craft skills and the first girl’s choir in an English Cathedral. It is arguably the finest medieval cathedral in England, built at one period with singular purpose. As we say in our Mission Statement, it exists for the glory of God and as a sign of his kingdom in the world. The Major Repair Programme Surveys in previous years have shown that the Cathedral is feeling its age, with 750 years of wear and tear on the building. Work on the Spire commenced in 1986 after an appeal, under the patronage of HRH Prince Charles, raising more than £6 million towards the works. The work to the Spire was completed in 1992 and was followed by conservation and repairs being undertaken on the Tower and West Front completing in 2001. The last major area of work to be completed was that of the Roofs in 2005, involving 90% replacement/recycling of the lead and structural repair to the timbers. The next phases of the Major Repair Programme include conservation of some of oldest, most beautiful glazing and some of the damaged stone. The total cost of the remaining work of the Major Repair Programme is £13 million. There are over 19 separate projects within the budget, including the urgent internal repairs of the Cloisters (£989,000); the repairs to the masonry and glazing of the West Side of the North West Transept (£683,000) and the conservation and Isothermal glazing of the Jesse Window (£162,000). The work is scheduled in phases over the next five years, using the expert skills of our in-house craftsmen and women. We cannot carry out the repairs without donations, and the urgency of our need is due to the fragile nature of sections of the Cathedral, and the external lack of enough skilled craftspeople. We have spent many years building up a department of skilled and qualified stonemasons and glaziers, and if we had to let them go it would take several years to recruit and train people again. We cannot afford to wait several years for these vital repairs, so must raise the money as a matter of urgency.