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Garstang: Running reverend's marathon saves freezing flock

Blackburn Diocese Rev Michael HutchinsonBlackburn Diocese
The vicar ran round all of the churches in his town

A vicar on the run has raised nearly £40k to warm the pews for his freezing flock with a new heating system.

Marathon-running Reverend Michael Hutchinson raised enough to replace the heating at his Victorian church.

The vicar of St Thomas, Garstang, Lancashire, said the cold weather and poor heating system kept the elderly away from services last winter.

"Some people had no choice but to stay away," said Mr Hutchinson, who raised £38,779 for new radiators.

He said the 50-year-old boiler system hardly provided any heat, recalling the Bible passage Revelation 3:16 - "you are neither hot nor cold".

Mr Hutchinson said: "Last winter, from church due to the freezing temperatures inside the building.

"The elderly in particular found it difficult to bear the cold.

"So we got together as a church family and worked out that replacement radiators throughout the church would cost us £30,000 to install.

Blackburn Diocese Rev Michael HutchinsonBlackburn Diocese
The fundraising campaign was called "Warm Hearts for a Warm Church"

Mr Hutchinson added: "It was a huge target, but we set about raising it with a great deal of faith and confidence that our prayers would be answered."

The first appeal was for £1,000-a-time to sponsor a single radiator, but the decision to run a marathon was a huge boost to the coffers, including two single donations of £10,000 and £3,000 from members of the church family.

The run itself raised around £8,000 towards the overall total.

Following a 17-week training programme, the cleric ran between the churches in his deanery area between his morning and afternoon services one Sunday in late October and made it to every church - including other denominations - and touched the door and prayed at each one.

He also praised local businesses who supported the campaign.

He said: "Garstang is the best place I have ever lived. We are blessed with so many things: a great community; fantastic events and, of course, the finest local parish church in the UK!"

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