AN historic building has been given a lift thanks to an injection of thousands of pounds.

Standing at 173 -years-old, St Paul’s Church in Halliwell was in need of restoration to keep its Sunday services rolling.

The Grade II listed building needed urgent work on its roof to keep the elements out and after a warden began searching for help, the church found itself the recipient of a cash injection.

The Taylor Review Pilot scheme, run by Historic England, handed out 54 grants from a £1.8 million pound pot to support historic places of worship.

St Paul’s in Halliwell was one of the chosen few and the church was granted around £8,000 for removal of plants from the stone work, treating exposed rafters and replacing missing lead work and slates. The church cafe was also turned into a Place of Welcome, creating a place for activities and programmes for the local community.

Vicar Rodger Petch said: “It’s obviously been very helpful.

“The money was used to do urgent work on the roof, it’s helped to keep the building watertight. The difficulty is that it’s stuff that must be done, but you can’t see it because it’s the roof— it’s things that keep the building going.”

“The congregation has appreciated the help greatly.”

Mandy Rushton, the church warden who applied for the funding, said: “The grant has enabled us to complete urgent repairs, make our church watertight and preserve it for future generations.”

Not only is the church the home of regular services, the church and it’s other community buildings are vital for groups bringing the local area together.

The vicar said: “We are not a big congregation but we engage with the community. Halliwell Befriending Service runs out of one of our halls and it does so much in the local area.”

The work does not stop at the roof for the church, which is hoping to update its historic trappings with more helpful features.

Mr Petch said: “There is a lot we would still like to do to improve. Our heating system is very old and it’s not efficient or environmentally friendly at all.

“We’re looking into getting a TV screen for when we need to use modern media.

“You could spend thousands and not do it all. It’s really about maintaining the historic fabric while making it suitable for use today — that’s the challenge.”

Other nearby recipients of the grant funding included the 19th century Monton Unitarian Church. The grant helped to pay for repairs to the historic Philomena leaded stained glass window.