St Mary's Church in Saffron Walden raised £55k for new lighting with a gift day, and has also launched a Ukrainian church guide.

The gift day was held on Saturday, September 21 to raise money to replace the church's failing lighting system with more efficient and eco-friendly LED lighting - which will also "unobtrusively enhance" the architecture of the church.

On the day, the church raised more than £30,000, including gift aid. An anonymous donor promised to match £25,000, making a total of £55,000.

Project leader Steve Hasler says the church is "well on its way" to meet the estimated costs, although they do not have a final quote yet.

Donations can still be made at www.stmaryssaffronwalden.org/lighting. 

The church has also added a Ukrainian translation to the free English and foreign language guides available for visitors.

The 'Walk Around Guide' draws attention to the church's many historical and architectural features.

A church spokesperson said: "We are most grateful to the mother of our Ukrainian choral scholar for her help with this translation."

The church's visitors' book reveals that in the last two years there were entries from visitors from 65 overseas countries from all continents - excluding Antarctica.

As well as Ukrainian, translations of the guide are available in Czech, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

Pamela Mugliston, secretary of the Friends of St Mary's Church and coordinator for the church's Welcomers, said: "We always get a great reaction when visitors enter the church and those from other countries are delighted to be able to read more information in their own language.

"Visitors during the summer have been grateful to receive a coffee and homemade biscuits; visitor numbers are going up each year."

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All the language versions of the Walk Around Guides are available on the church's website, and a printed trail is available for children.

The church also held a Family Harvest Service on Sunday, September 22, led by both members of choir Joyful Noise and the Junior Choir.

During the service the congregation donated food to the Uttlesford Food Bank.

Junior choristers at St Mary's Church with the food for Uttlesford Food BankJunior choristers at St Mary's Church with the food for Uttlesford Food Bank (Image: St Mary's Church)