CHRISTMAS service attendance levels were at their highest for more than a decade in Herefordshire last year.

Hereford Diocese saw congregations at Christmas services swell by an extra 2,500 worshippers, according to the latest annual Statistics for Mission report.

Nationally, the size of Christmas congregations has been on the rise since 2013, with attendance levels rising by over three percent in 2017.

Hereford has also seen its number of regularly attending worshippers increase, as has been seen across the country, despite falling overall attendance levels on a Sunday.

People who regularly attend church rose slightly in 2017 to 13,400, with 17 per cent under 18-years-old.

While the average Sunday attendance at churches in the diocese (measured during October last year) stood at 6,800, which is just down on the previous year.

Average attendance across the week stood at 8,200.

The Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Revd Richard Frith said: “We are encouraged by the numbers of people that are coming to church across the week and not just Sundays.

“This reflects the range of services and events that we are beginning to see at different times and locations across the diocese, all aimed at helping us to grow and inspire each generation.”

Those events and activities include non-traditional worship and learning such as Messy Church, and community projects, reaching audiences outside of the regular or traditional churchgoing community.

Across the country, 80 percent of congregations are involved in community and social action, and Hereford Diocese is no exception, with congregations supporting a network of food banks, community larders and other projects across the county.