THE fundraising appeal at Studley Parish Church is now in full bloom thanks to a colourful flower festival.

About £1,000 was raised at the St Mary's Church flower festival at the weekend in aid of its Vision 900 Appeal.

The appeal is being held to mark the Castle Lane church's 900-year anniversary and aims to raise £90,000 by December 31 to help modernise the building.

Villagers enjoyed the beautiful displays of flowers, along with tours of the church and bell tower.

A concert of traditional 18th century church music was held on Saturday evening.

The Rev Richard Deimel said: "We have had a really good weekend with a lot of visitors coming along to enjoy the flowers. We raised about £1,000, which takes our total up to £73,000.

"We still hope to reach our target by the end of the year so we have a very challenging time ahead."

The next fundraising effort will be on Sunday at The Needlemakers Arms in Watts Road, Studley.

Villagers are invited to dig deep and bid for harvest festival produce, including home-made cakes, from 8.30pm onwards. Admission is free and all are welcome.

''Last year we raised more than £400 at the auction and we hope to beat that this year," said Mr Deimel.