RESIDENTS are being urged to dig deep and donate money to enable the defunct heating system to be replaced at St John's Church in Devizes.

If the church does not raise £45,000 it faces closing during the winter.

Canon John Record, the rector of St John's, will be in the church on Saturday from 10am to 4pm accepting donations towards the repair work.

The heating system, which is more than 100 years old, needs to be completely replaced.

Canon Record said: "The heating system has died and we need to replace it. If we don't raise the £45,000 needed then we could be forced to close the church in the winter which would be very sad. We certainly would not expect people to sit in the cold during winter.

"We get lots of visitors to the church and on Saturday I will be asking them to consider making a donation towards the new heating system."

The breakdown of the heating system came as a blow to the parochial church council as it has recently embarked on a £750,000 fund-raising appeal to carry out extensive repairs and renovations to the church.