Parishioners in Sherston are launching a fundraising campaign after the cost of restoring the village church was revealed to be £40,000 more than expected.

Around £180,000 had been raised to replace the Cotswold stone tiles on the roof of the Grade I listed Church of the Holy Cross but when tenders came in the work was estimated to cost £220,000.

Church warden Roger Whitehouse is hoping the work will continue to go ahead while the rest of the money is raised.

He said: “We’ve had some very generous donations but it wasn’t quite enough to do everything we had planned.

“We are hopeful we will raise the money while the contractors are still on site.

“The plan is to completely strip off the tiles that are there and are now perishing.

“The tiles are held in place with oak pegs which are also going so we’re getting a few loose tiles.”

The work will be done using a traditional method to comply with planning regulations.

A fundraising committee has already been set up to collect the outstanding cash with a new tile-sponsoring initiative to be launched at the village’s Boules Festival.

Mr Whiteside said: “We’re going to offer people the chance to buy a tile and have an inscription put on the back.

“These tiles are going to be in place for two to three generations so we think that might spark people’s imaginations.

“We want to have that ready to go by the festival so we have our work cut out.”

Mr Whiteside was hopeful the generosity of villagers would help them reach their target.

He said: “There is a great deal of goodwill towards the church.

“Nearly everybody seems to use it at some point whether for community events or weddings and funerals.”

He added: “We are going to create a display with a picture of the church with 40 blank roof tiles.

“For each £1,000 that we raise, we’re going to colour one in.”