A MAJOR redecoration project at a Dales church will be complete in time for the harvest festival service on Sunday.

St John the Evangelist's Church, at Cowgill, was last decorated 35 years ago and the current project resulted from the five year survey (quinquennial inspection).

The money to pay for the work has been raised through sales, open gardens, barbecues, coffee mornings. They also received a £1,500 grant from the Craven Trust and have also applied to the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust. Villagers have also rallied around to help by donating their time by picking up a paint brush, cleaning and making new altar cloths as well as donating money to the historic building.

The next project is to open up an area for community use and for visitors.

The church is on the Dales Way and below Dent station on the Settle to Carlisle line. Worshippers also plan to build on the history of the railway - 75 navvies and their families are buried in unmarked graves in the churchyard and commemorated with a memorial stone