RESIDENTS of an Eden town are trying to raise £20,000 to provide their 'beautiful' church with modern-day facilities.

St Lawrence's Church, at Appleby, is still in need of toilets, a serving facility and a new heating system after suffering damage in floods of Storm Desmond in December 2015.

Parochial Church Council member Jenny Morgan said tens of thousands of pounds had already been generated through grants and fundraisers to carry out works, but another £20,000 was still needed by the time work begins in January.

"As you can imagine, the church was badly damaged in the floods when the water was three-feet high," said Mrs Morgan.

"We normally put things on the pews when there's a risk of floods and we did that this time but the water just came over the top. Anything that could move was destroyed.

"The insurers have done a lot of the work but we've had plans for a long time to improve things."

Mrs Morgan added a lot of work had already gone in to help fund renovation works at the Grade I listed church, at Boroughgate, but time was running out to gather the remaining money.

She said: "We've done everything we can think of. We have until January 8 when the builders start and once they do, we can't apply for any more grants, so we need the last £20,000 before then.

"Appleby is the most generous place on God's earth but £20,000 is a lot of money. Appleby is amazing, it really is very special in how it supports all sorts of causes, and I just hope this is a cause people can get behind.

"We need a toilet. It's ridiculous in the 21st century not to have one. We've had more than 1,000 years of this ancient monument but we need to bring it into the 21st century to make a central point in the town.

"It's a beautiful church which is filled with history and it needs to be a community centre to the town, and that means having the facilities and decent heating it needs."

To support the fundraiser, visit www.justgiving.com/stlawrenceschurch-appleby