Retired firefighter builds York Minister model with matchsticks

Clive Holmes, 87, spent two years building the 6ft (1.8m) long replica which comes complete with arched windows and gargoyles.

The keen model maker from Durham has spent decades creating models of churches and cathedrals including of Durham.

He was inspired to turn his hand to York Minster after his granddaughter moved to the city to study at the university.

But his latest creation is now too big to keep at home and his family are looking for a new owner to take it on, with Clive threatening to burn it on November 5 if a new home cannot be found.

The impressive model is made with 80,000 matchsticks. (Image: SWNS) The model has an uncanny resemblance to the real deal. (Image: SWNS) Clive said: “Since I retired I work on them all day.

"I like to keep my hands busy.

“I place each matchstick one at a time and trim then down to the exact size I need.

"There’s a lot involved before you even start doing the matchsticks.

File photo of Clive's model of Durham Cathedral in 2019. (Image: CHRIS BARRON)“I take a lot of photographs and hopefully get a ground floor plan and then I scale it all down in drawings.

"If they’re curved windows, they all have to be trimmed into little bits and stuck together which takes more time and attention to get it right.”

His family are now hoping York Diocese take the model which is too big to fit in Clive’s home in Durham.

His daughter Sue Todner, 56, said: "My daughter moved to York for university and she’s settled there so dad just thought ‘why not make a model of the Minster’.

“Dad has been building models forever. 

Clive working on his York Minster model. (Image: SWNS) “I certainly know that as kids growing up, it used to be how my sister and I earned our pocket money, just trimming off the ends of donated matches.

"We used to get 10 pence for about 200 matches.

“The York Minster model is very impressive but it’s just too big to fit in the house.

The model has a remarkable level of detail. (Image: SWNS)  
“You’d need an entire room to display it so it’s in the garage but we’d love it to go to the real York Minster if they’d have it.”

Sue has launched an appeal on social media to give the artwork a new home in the city.

She said that if there were no takers for the model, her dad would set it on fire on November 5.

She added: "The reason I put it online is because dad said if I didn’t find somewhere for it to go, he would torch it on 5th November.

York Minster. (Image: SWNS)

"It was so important it had some sort of recognition."

Writing on the York Minster Facebook page, they said: "There's something poetic about this matchstick model coming to light (no pun intended) during the 40th anniversary of our last major fire in 1984!"

Clive has also made similar matchstick models in Grimsby Minster and Durham Cathedral.