TWO historic Test Valley churches have received Government handouts to carry out urgent roof repairs.

St Margaret’s at East Wellow and All Saints at Houghton are amongst nine churches in Hampshire sharing cash from a £15million UK-wide church roof fund announced by Chancellor Goerge Osoborne in his March budget. Former churchwarden Rich-ard Burnett-Hall, who organised All Saints’ bid, said the £11,400 Government grant would make a big difference.

“We didn’t rate our chances of getting the money because so many others applied for funds. We now have enough money to pay for the repairs to the roof and the grant covers most of what is needed. The roof was inches thick with moss and we had that removed and most of the roof was in good nick,” said Mr Burnett-Hall However, the roof over the north aisle was in need of retiling which cost approximately £13,000.

He added that altogether more than £200,000 was being spent on a “renewal” of the 12th century church.

This includes installing six new light-weight bells.

The existing three bells, two of which date to 1724, cannot be rung as the bell frame is no longer strong enough to allow them to swing full circle. The old bells will be re-hung and used for stationary “chiming”.

In the autumn, essential repairs to the windows of the building, installing a new kitchen and building a large meeting room in a reconfigured north aisle.

There are also plans to install a loop system in the church for people with hearing loss, new lighting, a projector, toilets and to restore a 1791 memorial.

“We want the building to be used a lot more by the community. When the church was built the idea was to have it as a communal building. We do have 40 to 45 per cent of the money needed to reorder the Church,” added Mr Burnett-Hall.

Wellow’s vicar, the Rev Chris Pettet said: “We have been very glad to receive this grant from the government's Church Roof Repair fund. The funds that we have received go some way to ensuring that St Margaret’s will be there for future generations to enjoy this unique place of worship.”