Church raises funds to install CCTV after vandalism

A church warden said she felt "blown away" by the support she received as she raised thousands of pounds to install CCTV following an attack by vandals.

The organ was smashed during the break-in at St Margaret's Church in Bowers Gifford, near Basildon, Essex, at about 13:00 GMT on 24 November.

Two boys, aged 15 and 16, were arrested on suspicion of burglary and criminal damage and the pair were released on bail while inquiries continued, Essex Police said.

Church warden Nikki Dilorenzo set up a public donations page which raised £10,000 for cameras to be installed.

She said she had initially kept the target for the donation page quite low when the page was set up a few weeks ago.

"When I first set it up, I literally put down £1,000, thinking we'd get a few donations, and we reached that target in a matter of hours," she said.

The church is hoping to reopen by the end of January once repairs have been completed and the cameras have been installed.

Mrs Dilorenzo said the amount of support she had received felt like a Christmas miracle.

"I am overwhelmed by people's generosity. Even though people don't come to church every week, people still want it there," she said.

When the incident took place, Mrs Dilorenzo said she had lost faith in people.

But after support flooded in, she said she had had a "complete turnaround on how I felt initially".

She added that she was "blown away by the responses that we've had".

The break-in happened a couple of hours after the Sunday morning service at the Grade II listed Anglican church, which dates back to 1450.

Police said items thought to have be stolen from the church had been found, but some £15,000-worth of damage was caused during the incident.

"We are going to come out stronger and the church doors will be opened again and we've been blessed by everyone," Mrs Dilorenzo said.

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