A FUNDRAISING campaign to pay for essential work on a church roof has exceeded its target a year ahead of schedule.

Now an event which was originally organised as a fundraising event for St John's Church, Ben Rhydding, will be held as a celebration, just ahead of the Christmas season.

The musical Simeon with drama, humour and ten catchy songs is a re-telling the Christmas story from the perspective of Simeon, about a week after Jesus' birth. “It's like a Nativity without the kings,” said director Miranda Armitage.

Rehearsals are well under way and the performance will take place on the evening of Saturday, November 25 in St John's Church at 6pm. It will be followed by mince pies and mulled wine and the opportunity to hear musician Roger Jones explain why he wrote Simeon.

The church launched a £150,000 fundraising campaign for urgent roof repairs in September 2015. The church, which has served the village of Ben Rhydding for more than 100 years, was in need of extensive and expensive repair.

Investigation work found many of the slates were only being held on by gravity and that most needed replacing. Since the church is in a conservation area, these had to be replaced with reclaimed originals.

A committee was set-up and a variety of fund-raising events planned with the aim of raising £150,000 over the next three years to complete the work. These included a folk and beer evening a jazz evening , a 'Day of Dance' , quizzes and various workshops, all of which proved to be of great success with the local community.

And now, a year ahead of schedule, the total has been smashed, with £162,000 raised by the local community. The work was completed in August and the scaffolding has been removed.

Fundraising committee chairman, John Tinkler, said: "Along with donations, bequests - and a lot of prayer - the money came in; even more than we could imagine.

“So 'Simeon' is a real celebration for us and we're extremely grateful for the support we've had both from church members and the wider community of Ben Rhydding.”

Tickets for Simeon are £5 (children free) and can be purchased from the Church Office: Tel. 01943 601430, email: office@benrhydding.org.uk

or from Frances Edson: Tel. 01943 969874, email: francesedson@gmail.com