A BID to boost church coffers via mobile phone is being piloted at six tourist hotspots in Cumbria.

Visitors to St Oswald's at Grasmere, St Mary's at Rydal and four other places of worship will be able to scan a QR code using their phone's camera, and leave a cash-free gift via a donations page.

Sophie Hodge, the Diocese of Carlisle’s stewardship enabler, said: “Fewer and fewer people are actually paying for things with cash these days, as contactless and electronic payments are made ever easier. This pilot project looks to address this issue for our churches.

“Visitors are often taken with a church building, with its heritage, warmth of welcome and as a sacred space for prayer, contemplation and worship. But they find they can’t make the financial gift they’d like to because they simply don’t have any money in their pockets.

“So this pilot looks to provide a different way for people to make a donation as easily as possible; just a quick scan of the code and then you decide how much to give.”

Six churches are taking part in the pilot scheme at the request of the Church Commissioners, the body which supports the Anglican Church’s work and mission. As well as Grasmere and Rydal churches, they are St John’s, Keswick; St John the Evangelist, Cowgill; St Patrick’s, Patterdale; and St Andrew’s, Penrith.

The Diocese of Carlisle project will see each church provided with publicity material and roller banners featuring a QR (Quick Response) barcode that visitors can scan with their phone; no special app is needed.

The scheme will run for six months and, if successful, it could be rolled out across the county.

St John's Church, Keswick was among the first to receive its publicity material. The Lake District town is one of the most popular for the millions of tourists who visit each year.

The Rev Canon Michael Webb, chair of The Friends of Keswick St John charity, said: "There is a good footfall of visitors in the church every day and, though it’s difficult to put an exact figure on it, I’d think that roughly a third of our congregation on a Sunday is made up of visitors from all over the world.

"So this project could be very beneficial for us. I think it’s really important we make giving as easy as possible and this scheme enables people to give at a level they are comfortable with. I could envisage this being particularly useful for our younger visitors who are naturally more used to our growing cashless society."