A CHURCH in Darwen is calling on businesses and residents to help it find £17,000 as part of an effort to repair its crumbling roof and preserve the town’s heritage.

St Peter’s Church is looking to bid for a Heritage Lottery Grant (HLF) of £250,000 to restore the historic roof on the north and south aisle which is in need of urgent attention.

There has been some patching up of the roof after water started seeping in during the December deluge of 2015 but temporary work is no longer sufficient for its future.

The church must find £17,000 as this will be a required contribution if their grant bid is successful.

Reverend David Stephenson, the church curate, said he hopes the town will get behind the project.

He said: “We have got reserves at the church but they are there in case anything else happens to the building. It’s all we’ve got.

“We don’t want to be going into that so we need the town’s support.

“This is about preserving the heritage of Darwen and £17,000 is not much in relation to what we are asking for.

“We would like to see stakeholders be prepared to invest in this project. There is a lot of pride in Darwen and it’s becoming a busy place so I hope that will continue into our church.”

The project will add to work which has already been done to restore the nave and tower roofs several years ago.

It received development funding of £23,200 from HLF last year to help the church progress its plans and apply for the full grant at a later date.

Several events such as a summer BBQ in June, a cocktail and casino night in July and a tea party in September will all be happening throughout this year.

It is hoped these events combined will raise thousands with the help of Darreners.

There are also two consultation events arranged for the end of March where stakeholders and residents are invited to go and hear about the situation and offer ideas.

Rev Stephenson said: “We have some excellent people working on this grant bid and we hope that if we get this money we can do more than just repair the roof.

“We want to do things like relaunch our website and offer audio guides for the church.”

The consultation will take place on Monday, March 27, at 7.30pm and the following day at 2pm.