West Dorset churches are celebrating a funding boost to support maintenance projects - including one local place of worship which has scooped more than £30,000.

Nearly 5,000 religious’ buildings across the UK have received a share of £42 million in public funding from the government's Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

The scheme - which supports the protection of religious buildings representing all faiths and denominations to benefit local communities - aims to ease the cost of essential conservation and maintenance work.

St Andrew’s Church in Charmouth received an amazing £33,894.66.

Church treasurer Liz Sansom explained that they were awarded the funding following works which began in 2019 to restore the village church to its former glory.

The church initially received around £370,000 from the Erskine Muton Trust to be able to undertake the works and Mrs Sansom explained that the additional government funding was them being able to claim the VAT back.

She said: “This money makes a tremendous difference as we really want the church to be a community space – it’s a space that needs to be used."

A portion of the grant money went towards a community café at the church, and the team at St Andrew’s plan to use the remainder to continue works to the inside of the church.

Mrs Sansom added: “This grant will enable us to do a lot more to make a difference.

“This month we are hoping to be able to get the first bit of the inside done and then people will definitely be able to see a difference – it will be a much more flexible space.

“We needed a lot of money to be able to complete the works and a lot of the Erskine Muton Trust money has been used to do works to the outside of the church.

“I think the church was in a bit of a dire state because the walls were letting all the water in.”

Other churches and places of worship that are benefitting from the grant in the area include St Swithun's Church in Bridport, which receives £2,421.15, and Bridport United Church which receives £1,052.74.

In Lyme Regis, St Michael and George Roman Catholic Church receives £1,374.67 and St Peter and St Pauls Church receive £1,566.44.

St Mary’s Church in Burton Bradstock gets £1,348.41, whilst St Mary Magdalene Church in Loders is awarded £1,497.90.