CHURCHES can carry out vital restoration work thanks to grants amounting to thousands of pounds.

The Dorset Historic Churches Trust has awarded more than £50,000 to churches throughout the county.

This money will be used for vital repairs, maintenance and restoration and brings the total donated by the trust this year to £100,000.

Grants were allocated to 11 parish churches across Dorset, including Stoke Abbott, Steeple, Stalbridge, Puddletown, Margaret Marsh, Leigh, Hinton St Mary, Cranborne, Ferndown, Kinson, and St Peter and St Paul’s in Blandford.

Funding from the Dorset Historic Churches Trust (DHCT) will go towards new lighting, heating and guttering, fixing roofs and floors and repairing worn-out stonework.

Further grants were awarded to local churches earlier in the year to help conserve them for generations to come.

Simon Pomeroy, Chairman of DHCT, said: “We are delighted to be able to award these grants to churches across Dorset.

"The repair works we help fund are often desperately needed. We rely on fundraising activity and donations by our many supporters and especially the Friends of the Dorset Historic Churches Trust to make our work possible.

"We would like to say thank you to everyone who took part in our Ride and Stride event earlier this year and hope as many – if not more – people will join in the fun next year.”

DHCT’s annual Ride and Stride event is the charity’s main source of fundraising.

The event involves some 200 parish and church communities across the county and this year’s total is £77,000 and still rising.

Established by Sir Owen Morshead in 1960, the Dorset Historic Churches Trust is a voluntary run charity that raises funds and provides around £100,000 each year to Dorset’s churches and chapels of all Christian Denominations to assist the increasing costs of maintenance, restoration and improving facilities.

Its main source of income is the annual Ride and Stride that every September involves some 200 parish and church communities across the County.

The Dorset Historic Churches Trust is always on the lookout for individuals with an interest in churches to become actively involved with the Trust.

DHCT produces a range of note cards which feature stained glass windows, all proceeds from which will go towards the work of the Trust.

These may be ordered from cards@dhct.org.uk.