£60,000 raised to help save Middleton-in-Teesdale church, but another £60,000 needed

WATER leaks at a historic Teesdale church will be a thing of the past thanks to the tireless fundraising of wellwishers.

Funds of £60,000 have been secured at St Mary’s Church, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, after the church bounced back from an unsuccessful £120,000 Heritage Lottery Fund bid. The five figure sum will mean the church’s double-tiered roof, its damaged pointing and peeling walls will be repaired as part of a two-phase project.

Money for the urgent work has come from county councillors Ted Henderson and Richard Bell, who chipped in £5,000 from their neighbourhood budgets. Other funds from the Diocese of Durham and the church’s own reserve account have pushed the total to the £60,000 mark.

Associate minister Revd Alison Wallbank was pleased to get the “phase one” work underway but admitted there was still a long way to go. She said: “People here are very generous – I’ve written to 15 local businesses asking them if they would like to support the church and every household has been posted to.”

St Mary’s was built in Victorian times but stonework in the church dates to the 12th century. But recent years have seen it besieged by damp and moss as its ancient guttering has fallen apart.

The church is used as a community venue for book shop meetings and coffee mornings and Mrs Wallbank paid tribute to villagers and users of the church who’d dug into their pockets in the wake of their appeal.

She added: “The many people of Middleton-in-Teesdale have held tombolas, raffles and cake stalls and have truly brought people together to raise money. I read somewhere that if a village loses its post office, pub and church it dies – if the church goes I think people will be heartbroken.”

The repair work will begin once the winter frosts have abated. It is anticipated there will then be a two-year wait while the building dries out for re-plastering and redecorating. Questions were raised over why the Church of England hadn’t offered more to support St Mary’s as more light was shed on its dilapidated state. But Mrs Wallbank revealed there was plenty on the church’s plate already.

“Although people think the Church of England is wealthy, its not the church itself but its commissioners who own swathes of land and property.

“Income from that pays all the clergy, pensions and training so if the church commissioners were to help every church falling down, the whole system would grind to a halt.” Meanwhile, another £60,000 is still needed to complete the second half of the repairs which include plans to replace the church’s power sapping 500 watt floodlights.

People are being asked to each donate a “fiver a foot” to help pay for the 310 feet of cast iron guttering which lines the roof. To donate, text 70070 with MINT00 £5 or £10, visit give.net/stmarymint.