A FUNDRAISING art and craft exhibition trail spanning five local churches gets underway in September.

The trail hopes to raise money for the restoration of the bells at St Peter and St Paul in Broadhempston.

Bell ringing has had to stop at the aforementioned church due to the deterioration of the supporting beams.

But a novel fundraiser event hopes to change that, or, at the very least, raise some much needed monies to go towards the restoration.

The five churches involved in the trail, which takes places between September 12 and 15, are St Marys in Denbury; St John the Baptist in Woodland; Holy Trinity in Torbryan; St Andrew’s in Ipplepen and, of course, St Peter and St Paul in Broadhempston.

The churches will be open from 10am to 4pm each day.

There will be exhibitions displaying and selling local artist’s work and crafts at each church, with refreshments available too.

St Peter and St Paul stands on the site of a Saxon church.

The tower is the oldest part of the current church, with some 13th century fabric having survived.

Otherwise, the building dates to the 15th century, being restored in the late 19th and early 20th centuries respectively.

Today, however, the bells are held by wooden foundation beams that have significant rot and deterioration in two, possibly three, of the beams .

Bell ringing has, therefore, ceased due to health and safety risks.

As with all repairs, there is lots to do once you get started and bringing down the bells to let the work commence is very costly.

Also at the same time there is repair work to the roof that needs to be dealt with.

For more information, send an email to [email protected]