Highlighted against the wintry city sky of 45 years ago, a team of steeplejacks carries out a survey of the spire and roof of St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle.
The fearless gentlemen all clearly possessed nerves of steel, a steady foot and grip, and a head for heights - while most of us, one suspects, wouldn't do the job for love nor money. As Fred Dibnah, the Bolton steeplejack who achieved considerable television fame in the 1970s and '80s, used to joke on his TV series, "you're just one slip away from half a day out with the undertaker."
The operation was part of a general survey of the fabric of the building ordered by the parish priest, Canon Francis Kearney. The photograph and story appeared in the Evening Chronicle on January 20, 1978.
