A FUNDRAISING campaign has been launched to pay for major repair work at a Ribble Valley church.

St Mary’s in Mellor is undergoing 12 weeks of renovations to the chancel interior, exterior, vestry and boiler house.

To foot the bill, the church is aiming to raise £50,000 through organised events and donations over the coming months.

Reverend Sue Williams said: “I’ve only been in the post about a month so have not really had much time to enjoy the church without the construction material up.

“We have a few fundraising events already planned but I hope that members of the congregation will pull together and help us reach our total by donating or holding their own events.

“The repairs are very necessary for the church and we really could not have put them off any longer.

“The congregation understand that these repairs have to be done and I think we are all looking forward to when they have been completed.

“Our dream is to carry on the fundraising so we can redecorate the interior of the church after the repairs are finished since it has not been painted for about 20 years.”

Repair work is set to be fitted around the service programme at the church to minimise disruption.

Sonia Tipper, who has been a member of the congregation for 28 years, said: “These repairs simply just have to be done. The big white sheet is not something that we like but it’s necessary to protect the rest of the church.

“Everyone is quite enthusiastic about raising the money and I hope we reach the total.

“We just want to protect the church for the future.”