Parishioners and school staff say they are battling on after a freak bolt of lightning damaged equipment and phone lines.

The lightning strike hit the spire of St John’s Church in Baxenden which is fitted with a conductor rod to prevent structural damage.

But the bolt was so strong, it travelled into the ground and knocked out phone lines, internet and electrical systems at the church and neighbouring buildings, including the school.

The Rev Tom Donaghey said the strike caused around £4,000 worth of damage to the church and feared they would not recover until next month.

He said: “The conductor rod seems to have done its job and protected the building but it’s sent a shock around the whole church.

“It’s wiped out all the electrics, computers, heating systems, speaker and PA system and our print and office areas have been affected.

“It’s going through the insurers now but we are probably looking at the beginning of December before work is started.

“The big concern for us is the cold weather and heating.

“It’s now about wrapping up warm until we get it sorted but hopefully it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Mr Donaghey said the lightning struck at around 4.30pm on Saturday, November 2 – the same time as an artist was exhibiting her work. He said: “Dorothy Brown was doing an art exhibition to raise money for a missionary in Africa and she was just packing away when it struck against the church

“It blew a hole out in one of the wiring conductors but thankfully she was about 20m away.

“It gave her a big shock but we are grateful nobody was hurt at all.”

Baxenden primary school headteacher Christina Regan said the lightning strike had created a lot of disruption.

She said: “It hit the highest point on the spire which has a conductor on it but the lightening has obviously earthed and then taken out the electrics.

“It has affected our telephone lines and internet, our main computer is out of use and my computer has had to go back to the manufacturers.”

BT said it has received around 10 calls over the past week reporting faults and Openreach engineers have been working on repairing the problems.

A spokesman added: “These faults were caused by lightning but all in separate places meaning we can’t repair them all at once as we could if they were all faulty in the same place.

“Engineers have been out working and we’ve repaired five lines, including one into the school.”