A MEETING is being held in South Tawton tonight (Thursday) to try and safeguard the future of a church threatened with closure.

The Church House will host a meeting at 7.30pm to try and set up the Friends of St Andrew's, an organisation designed to meet the future needs of the medieval church — it is threatened with closure due to the increasing necessity for repairs on the roof and internal brick work.

As well as setting up that group, organisers are looking for people with ideas for fundraising to help raise the urgently needed funds to save the building.

The estimated funding needed for the roof repairs is £246,000, with the figure possibly rising even higher. Fundraising has already begun in earnest, and the Heritage Lottery Fund pledged £151,000 to support the work last year. But to receive the grant and numerous other grants linked to it, the community will need to raise around £29,000 by April to plug the shortfall in funding.

Jerry Stephens, who is co-ordinating the fundraising effort to save the church, said: 'We are currently around £10,000 short of our total needed.

'There has been a fantastic effort from people in all the villages, not just South Tawton and South Zeal. We have had support from Sticklepath, which is no longer a part of the parish but sees St Andrew's as its mother church.

'People from Belstone, and the whole area east of Okehampton have been brilliant in making efforts to fundraise and we have had a few significant donations along the way.

'We need to hit our target by April, otherwise we will lose the English Heritage grant, and other grants added on through that one. It is like a house of cards that will topple should we lose the heritage grant.

'This is a medieval church, a building with an awful lot of historic importance and unique features, and one very much worthy of doing our utmost to save.'

St Andrew's has major leaks throughout the church, and following analysis it was discovered that the slates across the entire roof need replacing urgently. It was initially believed that only the aisle roof tiles needed replacing.

The leaks have caused internal damage and repair work is also required to renew the roof's lead covering, as well as internal timber repairs and removal of cement-based render on the south parapet.

There is also a need for ground drainage, and archaeological studies have driven up the cost.

The situation is so severe that the building has been placed in the highest category of English Heritage's 'Heritage at Risk' register, which highlights historical buildings in need of repairs or at risk if no action is taken.

All are welcome to the meeting to share their opinions on how to save the church.