THE DIRECTOR of a national charity is embarking on a personal mission to help raise money for repairs to an historic church after thieves stole its lead roofing.

Colin Shearer, regional director of the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), will take on a 350 mile sponsored bike ride to help raise funds for the repairs to Inglesham Church, which fell victim to £60,000 worth of damage in April.

The church is an historically important building, famous for being beloved by the former poet laureate John Betjeman and saved from ruin by the artist William Morris in the 1880s because of its internationally significant collection of 13th century wall paintings.

The challenging cycle route, a mile for each of CCT’s 350 churches, will take in four counties over six days.

Colin will stop at twenty churches, including Inglesham and three other churches that are also raising money for specific repair projects.

He said: “Every couple of years I get fired up enough to go on a long distance cycle in aid of a good cause.

“This time, I wanted to cycle a distance that would really challenge me - and will hopefully prove worthy of sponsorship.

“This challenge aims to raise £3000 to be split between four vital church projects, including the truly wonderful St John's in Inglesham which recently suffered a disastrous lead theft.

“I hope you’ll come with me on this journey by following my blogs and tweets, and by sponsoring me as I travel 350 miles, visit 20 wonderful sites and meet 40 of our wonderful volunteers, all in six days.”

To donate to the cycle ride and to help raise funds to repair the roof of St John the Baptist Church in Inglesham visit justgiving.com/fundraising/colinscycletour, call 0845 303 2760 or text BIKE07 £5 to 70070 to donate £5.