A MASSIVE fundraising effort to rebuild a country church gutted by fire earlier this year has reached another landmark.

Trinity Methodist Church, in Commercial Street, Norton, was devastated by a blaze caused by an electrical fault in the organ four months ago.

But church volunteers are now three-quarters of the way towards raising the £100,000 needed to restore the building.

Local vicar, the Rev Stewart Young, said: "We are well on the way."

As part of the work, many aspects of the 144-year-old church will be modernised, instead of returning to their traditional looks.

Mr Young said: "We decided we could use the insurance money to return it to the way it was, or we could look into ways of making it even nicer.

"The church was quite traditional looking before the fire, with wooden pews. Instead of putting those wooden pews back in place, we want to put in comfortable seating which will enable us to use the main area as an open space.