A £300,000 restoration project is nearing completion.

St Cuthbert’s Church in Birkby is aiming to re-open its doors to the community in March.

Work on the grade II listed building began last July after it secured £173,000 of English Heritage funding.

But after wet and windy weather put the roofing work behind schedule, the Rev Mary Railton-Crowder is praying the snow will stay away.

She said: “What happens next depends on the weather.

“The work is going really well. We’re only a little bit behind, but if we have snow next, it could delay it more.

“The worship is still happening in the crypt, but we’re hoping to be back in use by early March. We must be open for Easter.”

Specialist contractors have been brought in to restore the crumbling, damp building.

They have worked hard to completely re-roof the church, replacing rotten timbers and re-lay the roof tiles.

Work has also been ongoing inside the leaking church to repair holes in the walls, remove the old plaster and re-plaster them.

The walls will need the summer months to dry out and are not expected to be ready for painting until September.

The Rev Railton-Crowder said: “It was a sad-looking building and was very cold and damp. Water literally used to run down the walls inside.

“We have had to replace more timber than we expected, because it was hard to know how bad it was until we got the timber out of the wall.

“We could only estimate from what we could see so we always knew it would be more. But we are still working within the budget.”

The old iron guttering has been repaired as part of the project – which also received community funding from waste management company SITA.

The Rev Railton-Crowder added: “The community groups that used the old building have put up with very difficult conditions that were getting worse.

“We are hoping to be able to provide a clean, safe and dry environment now because it is a super big building, right in the middle of Birkby.

“We want it to be used as much by the local community as ourselves.”

The church is now applying for more funding to upgrade the floor and kitchen area.