Ripon Cathedral dominates the skyline of Yorkshire's smallest city.

One of the region's most important historical buildings and the oldest cathedral in the country, it is an exquisite example of the subtlety and grace of English cathedral building.

Unfortunately, the cathedral's wealth of history and beauty is not mirrored in terms of money. Recent church meetings have been dominated by the issue of financial problems, and the Dean, the Very Rev John Methuen, has admitted: "we are as poor as church mice."

The problem has even led one of Ripon's leading clergymen to criticise his congregation for their lack of generosity in service collections.

In the December edition of the cathedral magazine, Canon Michael Glanville-Smith said: "surely no one is unaware of our perilous position. Every aspect of our life together - the worship, charitable giving, choirs, music, pastoral ministry, administration and fabric - is challenged and threatened at the moment by the lack of realistic financial support."

The cathedral's development campaign is an on-going initiative aimed at securing its long-term financial stability.

The campaign manager, Rory Wardroper, this week stressed the need for parishioners' donations in achieving this aim, saying: "All contributions make a difference."

Last week, English Heritage's announcement of a grant of £150,000 towards repairs to the roof of the nave boosted the campaign, but up to £500,000 is needed for the project, a total Mr Wardroper hopes to reach by November when work begins.

He said the ultimate aim of raising £3m would be met by encouraging people to remember the cathedral in their wills. Mr Wardroper said: "We would like people to recognise the cathedral is a very important part of the cultural heritage of the North-East."

He hopes for donations from all over the Ripon diocese, which stretches from Teesdale to the M6.

He also stressed it was important the community became involved in the project. "We aim to engage the entire community in the act of raising money."

He hopes schools will support the campaign as well as the corporate sector and private donors.

The campaign is planning various schemes to attract the attention of potential fundraisers. One idea is to encourage schools to adopt a tile on the new roof. In return for donations towards the roof, the school's name will be on a tile and children will be able to spot their school's piece of the cathedral on a model situated in the nave.

The money raised will also be spent on rewiring and re-lighting the cathedral and to restore the Saxon crypt. A project is also under way to install two glass millennium doors in order that the west doors can remain open to encourage visitors to the cathedral.

Nearby, Thorpe Prebend House, in High St Agnesgate, will benefit from a restoration programme that will see old timbers replaced, a visitor centre established and a seventeenth century garden recreated in which visitors to the cathedral can enjoy tea. Funds for this development have already been raised, work has begun and the centre is due to open in the summer.

The cathedral already receives about 130,000 visitors every year and the hope is that the improvements will bring many more.

Just as the Bromflet family of Ripon carvers produced the cathedral's impressive misericords in the fifteenth century, it is the intention of the development campaign to use local craftsmen and materials wherever possible.

The cathedral will thus continue to stand as a testament to the workmanship and devotion of local people.

Another important objective is continuing the musical life of the cathedral. There are two choirs at Ripon, one for boys and one for girls, both of which need money to maintain the standards of excellence that have been recognised in two BBC Songs of Praise programmes.

The programme of restoration and regeneration will contribute to the continuous process of improving and extending the cathedral that has gone on since St Wilfrid laid the first stone in AD 672