VANDALS struck twice at Ledbury's parish church over the weekend, setting light to candles and letting off a fire extinguisher.

Intruders entered the Church of St Michael and All Angels some time on Saturday and set light to candles, letting them burn.

The next day, the church, which is kept unlocked during the daytime, was entered again, and candles were ignited and a water fire extinguisher was sprayed across the church's piano.

Church warden Lois Pratt said: "It's disappointing that someone has done this. We keep the church unlocked so that people, whether they are visitors to the town and residents, can come in, light a candle in memory of a loved one, have a quiet time, meditate and pray."

She said that it was not yet certain how much damage the piano had sustained. She said: "It had its cover on, and the extinguisher was sprayed across that.

"We've got the piano tuner coming to next week to tune the piano ahead of the Christmas services and we'll find out then."

She said that it was unlikely these incidents would cause the church to rethink its policy of remaining unlocked during the day.

"So many churches are closed these days, and we want to remain open so that people can come in," she said.

Police have been informed about the vandalism. Anyone with information is urged to call the non-emergency number 101, citing incident number 175s/281116.