Our appeal to raise £50,000 to save the Accrington Pals Chapel, housed in beautiful and historic St John’s Church, has now passed the £27,000 mark.

Our target would enable the church to re-open after essential repair work while further funding is sought from groups such as English Heritage.

The largest donation this week was £185 in memory of the late Mrs Christine Patricia Westwell, while there were anonymous donations of £30 and £9, and the church itself raised around £150 from donations, the sale of merchandise and refreshments and a raffle.

The current running total is now £27,099, not including cash from the Stanley fans’ walk to Rochdale.


* A reminder that the church is holding an Easter service at its temporary home, St Christopher’s High School, Accrington, at 9.30am on Sunday.

Women are asked to wear their Easter bonnets and children to decorate a hard-boiled egg and take it along.

Merchandise on sale for the appeal will include books at £5 to £8, keyrings, pens, pencils and bookmarks.


* Caroline Lee is still seeking sponsorship for her bid to run the London Marathon on 13 April.

She is following a family tradition as her dad, Harry Haseley, is a veteran runner with 129 marathons to his name.

She can be contacted by email on calee21@btinternet.com or sponsorship pledges can be sent to the Observer offices.


* Former parishioner Anne Haworth, now living in London, has written an article about St John’s, which has appeared in the quarterly review of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies, an arts-based educational charity with over 300 societies and 90,000 members worldwide.

Anne has donated her fee for the article, headed The People’s Church, to the fund-raising campaign.