A COMMUNITY is determined to rally round to raise thousands of pounds to bring their village church into the twenty-first century.

People living in Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, have already managed to raise more than £160,000 for the Under the Roof Appeal at St James' Church.

The money which included a £114,000 grant from the English Heritage Lottery Fund has meant that the Victorian Church now has a brand new roof.

Father Garry Nicholson said that the community had really pulled together to make the work a possibility and he felt that they would be able to raise more money to refurbish the inside of the church.

He said: "We now have a new roof and the specialist window and stonework repairs have been completed. This is marvellous. It has been a great effort considering that the appeal was only launched just over a year ago.

"One of the things that we did to raise money was to engrave people's names on the roof slates and people paid to have their names or the names of loved ones put on the roof.''

Now the villagers are starting to raise money for brand new toilets, disabled access, a meeting area and an educational area for the children.

Fr Nicholson said: "We do not know how much money we need yet but paperwork has already been sent to the English Heritage Lottery Fund and they are very interested in helping us.''

This weekend the village holds its annual St James Festival to celebrate St James' day in the hope that it will be a fitting start to phase two of the church's plans for refurbishment.

One of the highlights will be a 'mighty duck race' in Bishops Park, Bishop Auckland, on Sunday at 2pm.

A stall in the centre of the village on Saturday will be selling ducks for the race at £1 each and a special festival mass will be held in the church on Sunday morning at 9.15 when the preacher and celebrant will be Father Alan Raine of Jarrow.

Fr Nicholson said: "I would like to express our appreciation to all the people who have supported and continue to support the appeal. The church is very important to the people of Coundon.''