SUCH was the devotion of one parishioner to his local church that he invented a woodwork system to repair its bells.

Woodwork and metalwork expert Tad Jurowski was given the task of removing the cradle of the two bells at St John's CE Church, Snod's Edge, near Consett, County Durham.

Parishioners raised £8,500 from trusts and charity events to pay for the work.

Mr Jurowski said that one of the bells, cast in 1883, had not worked in the 20 years he had attended the church. The other bell went out of commission earlier this year.

He said: "It was a massive job and I took it upon myself to put it right. I got the bells and the cradle and ended up having to invent a trammel arrangement to form the cradles for it. Basically, I utilised a lateral hole to form an arm to use across the radius of the cradle. It was very effective and resulted in a perfect arc for my cradles.

"I ended up sending pictures of it to a national woodwork magazine and they made a big thing if it and I won a prize.

"It is a far superior method to the usual way we do these things. But the main thing is we've finally sorted out our problem at the church."

The Reverend Tim Atkins, vicar of St John's Church, said: "Tad is a highly-skilled workman and very inventive. The metal and the wood had badly deteriorated by the fumes from the boiler.

"We had all sorts of fundraising events and had a major drive to get the money together for this.

"Now our bells should be ringing out to the people of Snod's Edge for 150 years to come. We are all absolutely delighted.