ONE church which knows the strain of raising thousands to fund vital repair is All Saints in Croydon, Cambridgeshire.
Since the 1970s the church estimates about three-quarters of a million pounds has been spent on saving the historic features in the 14th Century church - without grants those who live near the church fear it would have closed decades ago.
In April 2006 the church reopened after it was closed for a year to allow £175,000 worth of repairs to be carried out to replace the whole ceiling of the church.
And in 2002 and 2003 the church was closed for eight months when £80,000 worth of repairs were carried out to the chancel roof.
But the work is not complete. Projects which the church had planned to carry out in 2005, including restoring the medieval windows which are classified as "in danger of loss", have had to be delayed because the money ran out.
The church has received grants from organisations including English Heritage, the Historic Churches Preservation Trust and the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust, plus for the 2005/06 project they took out an £8,000 loan.
Malcolm Ralph, chairman of the All Saints restoration committee, said: "Grants are absolutely essential to the church. Without them the church would have closed in the 70s.
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There are only 250 residents in the village, but they put in huge fundraising efforts to raise the money. This year the annual open garden fundraiser is being held in the village on June 10.
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