A CHURCH congregation has only days to consider a development deal that could mean the loss of buildings and land.

Members of St Thomas' RC Church, in Wolsingham, are meeting tomorrow night to discuss a proposal that their parish hall, an orchard set aside for a cemetery extension and their presbytery could be sold to builders developing the St Anne's High School site next door.

Their views will be put to diocesan trustees at a finance meeting on Tuesday, which will be attended by the retiring Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, the Right Reverend Ambrose Griffiths.

Father Tony Owens, priest at St Thomas, and property manager for the diocese Tim Dillon put three options before church members this week.

They were to sell the presbytery or the orchard only, or the orchard and the hall with parking space.

Fr Owens said: "We are talking about the future needs of the church. We have a very small congregation. The church has been suffering from damp for some time and the upkeep of the hall relies on hard-working volunteers.

"Where would we get the money if we don't use one or more of the proposals in order to achieve it?"

Parish council chairman John Anderson appealed for the hall to be retained, saying: "We have lost the parish hall, the Methodist hall, the convent hall and our swimming pool. There is a limit to the number of closures that the people of Wolsingham can tolerate."

Tomorrow's meeting will be held in the hall at 7pm.

Congregation member Leo Gooch said: "There is a very strong feeling that we should keep the hall and the orchard. I will be proposing that we sell the presbytery only. That should give us the money."