THE Coleford community is worried about the future of St John's Church, one of the town's landmark Victorian buildings and for many years a focus point for ceremonies such as the recent Remembrance service.

This week the church closed its doors until at least April next year, ostensibly while 'unsafe' electrics are put right, but there are growing concerns that the roof and other parts of the fabric of the church have suffered considerably in this year's bad weather and will be vastly more expensive to fix.

It is understood that fixing the electrics alone will amount to about £6,000, and now an open-to-all 'consultation meeting' has been called for Saturday, December 1 (10am-4pm), at which parishioners will be asked to come up with ideas for future events and other ways to raise additional funding. Nobody has yet put a figure on the total amount of money that might be needed.

The Diocese of Gloucester, to which the church belongs, while keen to stress that the church's closure is 'temporary,' states: "The Church Community has been taking actions to garther as much information as possible to better understand the scale of works required on the building.

"There are also ongoing concerns about the roof, including falling roof tiles, which is a greater problem in the winter with heavier rainfall and strong winds."

At the last major ceremony at the church in Remembrance week those attending had to be warned the heating had already been turned off because of the electrical problem. Now parishioners will go to services at the Catholic church of St Margaret Mary in the town, where the first service will be held on Sunday (November 25) at the usual time of 9.30am.

One parishioner and near-neighbour told the Review: "This whole situation has come about because of successive vicars just ignoring the ongoing need for repairs."

And Coleford Town Clerk Annie Lapington said: "We are very sad that the church has had to close and hope that some solutions can be found to its current problems and we will soon see it open once again."

The church contains an historic organ originally purchased with help from the Carnegie Foundation. The Review has been told the instrument will be played at least every fortnight and regularly maintained while the building is closed.

Reader Chris Howell, who conducted the Remembrance service and last Sunday's service at St John's, said he hoped a new vicar would soon be installed "at a guess – and it is a guess – before Easter."