A VILLAGE church, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, has won a grant to allow vital repair work to go ahead.

The church of All Saints and St Helen's, at Wykeham, Scarborough, is believed to be one of only two in the country which has a separate steeple and church, 50 yards apart.

The main church, built by the Victorian architect William Butterfield, stands on the site where a church has stood for about 800 years, while the steeple belongs to an earlier building.

The Reverend Peter Jaram said the £111,000 grant from the Heritage National Lottery Fund would be used to repair the church roof.

He said: "We are very pleased to hear that the grant has been made."

The grant is part of £1.6m given by the fund to historic churches in Yorkshire.

The chairman of the fund's Yorkshire committee, Ian Carstairs, said: "Churches are often the most prominent symbols of a community's heritage."