MOUSEHOLE Methodist Church has been awarded a grant of £40,000 from the National Churches Trust and a further £10,000 from the Wolfson Foundation to help refurbish the historic building.

The church’s problems of dry and wet rot started during lockdown and since its closure for health and safety reasons it has escalated. The church is a prominent building in the village and is one of the oldest Methodist churches in Cornwall.

The members have been able to continue their worship thanks to the generosity of the parish church in the adjacent village of Paul who have allowed members to meet in the parish hall.

This grant, along with the proceeds realised from the sale of the Sunday School building, should allow for the refurbishment to go ahead. The project will still need to rely on the help and support of the general public to see it through.

A spokesperson said: “The members have worked hard to find a solution to keep the building for the village running, so that the children of Mousehole and district have the choice of being married or christened in their local Methodist Church, as well as allowing those to be buried from a building where they were brought up.”