A VICAR whose church faces being mothballed because it is crumbling has thanked a community for its kindness during the crisis.

The Reverend Martin Soar, vicar of St Mary's Church, Harrogate, said that a public meeting had helped people to understand the problems.

The congregation is due to move out of the church, off Cold Bath Road, and into the nearby church hall after almost £1m has been spent on the building over 87 years.

Parishioners can no long-er afford to pour more cash into a restoration scheme which experts said would not solve the problem.

Mr Soar said other churches had been supportive and the problem had further strengthened the bond between St Mary's and the neighbouring Harlow Hill Methodist Church.

Experts called in by St Mary's told church officials that its structural problems could not be solved unless every stone and every brick was replaced.

Mr Soar said the preferred option would have been to replace St Mary's with a multi-purpose building, serving the whole community.

But because of its heritage status, conservation bodies and amenity societies would not agree.

So the only option left open would be to seek what is known as "redundancy" status for the church building.

If the Church Commissioners granted to this, St Mary's would be closed with the ownership and responsibility for securing its future resting with the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds.