The Church of St Nicholas, Sabden in the County of -- Lancashire --

	St Nicholas Church, Sabden Photograph supplied by and © of Robert Yates

The church, formerly dedicated to St Simon and St Jude was built in 1841 and consecrated to St.Simon & St.Jude. The parish of Sabden was then known as Heyhouses. The church was then consecrated in 1846 to St Nicholas. It stands, interestingly, on Wesley Street and is 30 years younger than The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel nearby. The Church has a graveyard.

The church was closed last year in June 2011 when it was revealed that major repair works totalling £133,000 were desperately needed and services are presently held in the school hall. An urgently called public meeting received an overwhelming response from Sabden people of all ages and denominations who felt strongly that the landmark church should be saved and not left to rot.

An English Heritage Lottery Grant of £78,000 has recently been given to St Nicholas’s, heralding the beginning of the restoration work, but the battle to save the church still has a long way to go.

The church faces repairs for a collapsed ceiling, repairs to the steeple and dry rot in the tower. It houses a rare Laycock organ valued at around £50,000 and this also needs to be stripped down and repaired.

With a congregation of only 50, the support shown for the 170-year-old church, which is also a Grade II listed building, has been extraordinary. It is seen as the focal point for the village and as the church itself does not have a lot of money to fund the repairs; the community effort to save it has been vital to secure the future of St Nicholas’s.

	St Nicholas Church, Sabden Photograph supplied by and © of Robert Yates