Grants worth a total of £30,000 have been received by St Keverne Church Development Fund to help pay for the next stage of work.

Eventually between £150,000 and £180,000 will be needed to complete a thorough overhaul of the church.

This will ultimately provide a toilet with wheelchair access, a comfortable, multi-use area, more bell-ringing space a redesigned refreshments area with running water and drainage, better flower arranging storage, a vestry at the eastern end of the church, electrical rewiring and a lighting update, a sound and loop system to aid those with hearing difficulties and a full width ramp in the porch of the south entrance door.

Currently the church is working towards raising £62,000 for the next stage of development. To help towards this the development fund has recently received a grant of £10,000 from the Garfield Weston Trust and a grant for £20,000 from Sita Cornwall Trust, specifically towards the cost of new lighting and rewiring.

Margaret Jackson, fund co-ordinator, told the parish magazine the Beacon: “Both grants help considerably towards the maximum amount of £62,000 we need to raise for the next stage of development. A big thank you to Susan Stopforth for all her hard work on grant applications.”

The church has been holding many fundraising events to help boost the total, including Valentine’s Day cake competition won by Jeremy McCabe, which raised £40.50.

An Easter cream tea will take place in the church hall on Wednesday, March 20 at 2.30pm and a fun family beetle drive afternoon will take place on Saturday, April 6 in the same hall.

Posters with more details will be put up in the village later this month.

Unfortunately a food fair planned for this Saturday, March 9, has had to be cancelled.

“The St Keverne Church Development Fund Committee would like to thank you all for your help and encouragement, with special thanks to our local shops and businesses,” added Mrs Jackson.

The refurbishment programme is necessary in order to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act and also make the building – which is used regularly for weddings, funerals and christenings, as well as Sunday services – a nicer place to be.

A heating system has already been installed to keep the walls, floors and bell-ropes dry, not to mention the congregation warm.