AN Anglican priest has vowed to get his body back in shape in a bid to raise money for repairs to his church.

The Reverend Peter Mott, Vicar of Colne, is trying to lose seven pounds during the 40 days of Lent to help meet a £12,000 bill for repairs at the parish church.

St Bartholomew's has been closed for a month after the boilers were declared unsafe during an annual inspection.

Services are being conducted in the adjacent parish rooms.

Work on stripping asbestos from the boiler pipes is expected to start at the weekend and then repair work costing £3,300 will go ahead.

The church also faces a £4,500 bill to protect windows by covering them in plastic. This follows two vandal attacks in the last six months which left several smashed.

St Bartholomew's still owes £4,200 from major repairs to the church tower, completed last year.

Mr Mott weighed in at 12st 11lbs at the start of Lent and hopes to gather sponsorship cash by losing 7lbs.

"I put on some weight over Christmas and tried to lose it but didn't," he said. "Now I've got a good reason to get rid of some.

I've already got a sheet of sponsors from the parish church and half a sheet from Holy Trinity Church, so it's going very well."

The parish church congregation has already pledged £2,500 towards the repair bill and there are several other fundraising schemes in the pipeline.

It is hoped heating will be restored to the church in time for the Mothering Sunday service on March 22.

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