VILLAGERS are celebrating after successfully raising more than £10,000 to save their grade two listed church.

Members of St Andrew’s Church in Bolam, near Bishop Auckland, needed to raise the cash to replace the 19th century church floor which was damaged and had started to rot.

In 2011, the Friends of St Andrew’s began organising fund raising events and have now exceeded their target, thanks to a substantial donation from a friend of the church.

Chairman of the Friends, Roz Blacklock said: “We have been very lucky in receiving this donation which will enable us to further improve the building, adding kitchen and water facilities.

“When the floor was installed we had water pipes put in so that we could eventually have water in the church.

“It will mean we will be able to hold more functions here because we will be able to have refreshments. At the moment we manage with flasks as we are only a small congregation.”

Susan Boyle, church warden and committee member, added: “We knew there was a donation coming, but we had no idea it would be as much as it is.”

The group have arranged garden parties, murder mystery nights, quiz nights, and more recently a Mrs Bucket themed night, which raised more than £1,000.

Bolam’s parish meeting is held at the church every three months, and now the new floor has been installed, the Friends are hoping to hold monthly community events.

Treasurer of the church, Angela Sturgess, who has lived in Bolam for 15 years, said: “Roz has been absolutely brilliant at organising the fundraising events and it’s really brought the community together which is great.”

Mrs Blacklock added: “We have had so much support from the village, when we had the old wooden floor taken up it was rotten, so someone made it into sticks and sold it to raise money for the new floor. A farmer also stored all of the pews in his barn for us.

“Our fundraisers are usually very successful, we are only a small village of around 60 people and we get around 50 turn out for the events.

“When we got the quote for £10,000 we imagined it would take three years and we managed it in two so we are delighted and thrilled.”

The fundraising is ongoing, and the Friends of St Andrews hope to keep raising money to further improve the building.

To donate to the church, contact Miss Sturgess on 07971 597496.