Which churches will receive cycle ride money?

The churches that will share £57,500 from the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust (SHCT) annual sponsored cycle ride fund have been announced.

Every year, on the second Sunday in September, cyclists, walkers, drivers and horse riders are sponsored to visit churches across the county to raise money for the trust and its work to preserve Suffolk's historic buildings for future generations.

The trust distributes the money raised four times a year and, at its April grants meeting, 13 Suffolk churches were awarded funding for repairs and conservation.

Nine of the churches are in West Suffolk, and four are in East Suffolk.

The successful parish churches this time round are: St Peter and St Paul in Bardwell, All Saints, Blyford, St Andrew's, Brockley, Holy Trinity, Bungay, St Peter's, Copdock, St Mary's, Creeting, St Mary's, Framsden, St Peter's, Hepworth, St Lawrence, Lackford, St Andrew's, Norton, St Mary's, Woolpit, All Saints, Worlington, and St Mary's, Worlingworth.

Work in the churches will include repairs to floors, towers, roofs, ceilings, walls, windows, gutters and improved heating.

At Holy Trinity in Bungay, the pews will be removed, the floor redone, and a new heated area installed so that more community activities can be held there.

Meanwhile, St Mary's in Creeting is getting new slate on its vestry and St Mary's, Worlingworth, is being helped with work on its 15th Century font, which is rumoured to have come from the ruined Abbey in Bury St Edmunds.

John Devaux, chairman of the SHCT grants committee said: "There are churches in Suffolk which have to raise over half a million pounds. The sum required to safeguard this part of our heritage continues to rise inexorably year by year."

The SHCT grant money is raised by legacies and through the annual Suffolk Churches Ride and Stride Day, a vintage and classic car rally, Pedal & Drive, as well as a Steeple to Steeple horse ride, all held on the same day.

Any church, chapel or meeting house of any denomination can apply for the funding.

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