A grant of £65,000 has been awarded to St John the Baptist Church in Whitbourne.

The money from the Heritage Lottery Fund will help pay for repairs to the bell tower.

"All churches get an inspection every five years and at the last inspection the architect said the stonework was very bad," said parish co-ordinator John Allan.

"We had applied for grants to fund it and are really pleased we've got this one, it will keep the stonework in order for years and years."

Mr Allan said a further £20,000 was still needed and he would be applying for other grants. Once this money has been found, work on the bell tower can begin.

This will be the latest in a range of improvements to the church, which received a grant of around £60,000 from the Millennium Commission in 2001 to build new kitchen, toilet and meeting room.

"What used to be the vestry was cleared out, it has made a terrific improvement," said Mr Allan. "It means we can have a coffee after services and, if we have any events, we can prepare refreshments."

A smaller grant was awarded recently, allowing oak display cabinets to be installed.

Vicar David Howell said: "This is an on-going project. Most churches need regular sums of money for maintenance and repair."

He said the new facilities had enabled the church to be used increasingly for community events.

"The children come in here for their Christmas and Easter plays and we recently had an Arts Alive event," he said.