WORK has started on a £500,000 project to put a new roof on the nave of a cathedral.

But, for worshippers at Ripon Cathedral, in North Yorkshire, services will continue as usual.

Scaffolding is encasing the building as workmen prepare to remove more than 5,000 slates and put a reinforced plastic roof in place to protect the building. Work is expected to last about six months.

Although work is starting, the cathedral's Raise the Roof appeal has yet to reach its target.

Cathedral development campaign team member Margaret Hammond said: "We are now just ten per cent away from our £500,000 target.

"Obviously we hope to raise the full amount before the workmen have completed their task, and it seems likely that we will."

Meanwhile, old slates already removed from the leaking roof have been turned into products that have been boosting the appeal.

The slates have been turned into items such as memo pads, pencil sets, flower vases and paperweights.

English Heritage has given £149,000 to the project, and the Historic Churches Trust gave £30,000.

A £50,000 donation has come from the Garfield Weston Foundation, based in London.

A black tie dinner, for which the nave of the cathedral was cleared of pews and replaced by tables, raised £10,000.

A recently launched Adopt an Angel appeal has already brought in hundreds of pounds for the cathedral.

Meanwhile, hopes are rising that English Heritage will provide a further £149,000.

The project is one of the biggest undertaken for decades at the cathedral, which dates back 1300 years.

The building is famous for its St Wilfrid's Saxon Crypt, 15th-Century choir stalls, medieval screen and Tudor library.