Parishioners are closer to seeing the restoration of their church roof, which urgently needs repairs.

The team at St Mary’s Church in Bridport has been fundraising for a year to raise the £121,000 needed to repair the leaking roof and carry out work internally to fix the damage caused by water getting in.

The St Mary’s Church Roof Working Group was delighted to received a much-welcome boost to their fundraising after Bridport’s New Elizabethan Singers handed over a cheque for more than £1,100 raised through a Come and Sing event.

More than 100 singers of all abilities performed choruses from Handel’s Messiah, under the direction of the NES’s Matt Kingston. A further £248 was donated by the audience, making the total for the event £1,388.

Working group members say they are delighted with the ‘huge’ contribution to their appeal, and have thanked the singers and all involved in the successful event.

AT THE MOMENT, Seating capacity for occasions such as the Remembrance Day service and concerts by the NES has to be restricted in case more of the plaster ceiling collapses. Lead on the roof over north aisle of St Mary’s Church is split and leaking after much patching, with repairs urgently needed.

The cost to repair the roof is more than £121k and £14,160 is needed to meet the target so the first phase of work to the exterior roof can begin. The whole project – interior and exterior – will cost more than £40k.

As a Grade I listed building, repairs have to be done with traditional materials and this adds to the cost. The working group has been delighted with support from the town, particularly organisations like the NES, St Swithun’s Band, the Pantomime Players and Mood Indigo jazz trio. Town businesses have also been generous the ‘mainly elderly church congregation has energetically engaged in a multitude of fundraising schemes, as well as being generous with personal donations,’ according to a spokesman.

The New Elizabethan Singers’ next concert will take place at St Mary’s on Saturday, May 19, when they will perform Duruffle’s ‘Requiem’ and Vierne’s ‘Messe Solonelle.’