A CHURCH is being given a £40,000 Easter gift to repair its crumbling towers.

All Saints, on the corner of The Drive and Eaton Road in Hove, is on Historic England’s at-risk register.

There were fears its two weathered east towers needed urgent repair to keep them safe.

But now the church has been allocated a slice of a £330,000 funding payout from the National Churches Trust to “preserve its historic fabric for the future”.

BBC newsreader Huw Edwards is vice president of the National Churches Trust, a charity that supports church buildings. He said the money given to All Saints would help preserve “a really important historic building”.

He said: “The UK’s historic churches and chapels are a vital part of our national heritage.

“During the coronavirus pandemic churches are doing so much to help vulnerable local people and boost morale.

“Many churches need to carry out urgent repairs and install modern facilities to ensure their buildings can continue to be used well into the future.

“But the cost of this work is often far beyond what most congregations can pay for themselves.

“So I’m delighted that All Saints Church in Hove is being helped with a £40,000 National Churches Trust Grant.

“The important work to repair two east towers will help secure the future of this really important historic building which is currently on the Historic England at risk register.’”

These grants are the first made this year.

In all, 31 churches and chapels across England and Wales will benefit from the latest money from the National Churches Trust.

All Saints churchwardens Ann Joyce and Adrian Herbert were relieved.

In a statement they said: “This is brilliant news that has alleviated a great deal of anxiety, particularly at this difficult time, that will ensure the continuation of a wonderful church and its vibrant community in Hove. We are most grateful to the National Churches Trust.”

All Saints has been described as “probably the most magnificent of our 19th century parish churches in England”. Built in a late Victorian Gothic style from Sussex sandstone and Sussex oak, the church is nearly cathedral sized. It was designed by John Pearson and constructed between 1889 and 1901. It became the parish church in 1891 when the core of the building had been completed.

Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was married there in 1897 and King Edward VII attended a service there the year before when he was still the Prince of Wales.