A CHURCH service with a difference was held yesterday - where the congregation sang in the North-East dialect.

Onward Christian Soldiers became Haway Christian Soldiers when worshippers gathered for the unusual event.

The hour-long service was held yesterday afternoon to promote the different Northumbrian dialects, including the traditional miners' slang, pitmatic.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Ashington, Northumberland, was the venue for the event, organised by the Northumbrian Language Society.

Spokeswoman for the group, Kim Bibby-Wilson, said: "As a group we try to protect, use and publish the Northumbrian dialects as much as possible.

"One of our members came up with the idea for a church service, and a lot of hours have been spent changing the hymn lyrics into the more traditional dialects.

"It was a lot of hard work to change the words to make them make sense, and so the congregation would not have any trouble following it.

"For some hymns we had to revert back to the original German, which is quite similar to many of the dialects."