A congregation is saying a sad farewell to a 90-year-old North Yorkshire church which is crumbling away despite more than £1m being spent on its upkeep.
St Mary's Anglican Parish Church, in the Cold Bath Road area of Harrogate, is being closed after a service on Sunday, January 8.
On Sunday, January 15 its congregation will meet in the main hall at nearby Harrogate Grammar School in Arthur's Avenue.
Structural problems at the Grade II-listed church surfaced years ago when it was discovered that unsuitable porous stone had been used in its construction. Successive congregations have spent thousands on the building, but to no avail.
The vicar of St Mary's the Reverend Martin Soar and his congregation have been waiting many months for a decision on the future of the building from the Church Commissioners. The commissioners have now declared the building redundant.
Parochial church council member Mary Dance said: "It is the end of a church building but the beginning of something new and very exciting for us."
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