A BURNLEY church is making an urgent appeal for a new organist to help preserve its proud musical tradition.

St John the Evangelist CE Church in Worsthorne was almost without a keyboard player for its Christmas carol service - but was saved after a Good Samaritan' stepped in.

However, they need a regular player to replace long-standing organist Philip Mitchell who retired four months ago after 11 years at the helm.

The vicar, the Rev Lawrence Laycock said: "Our organist retired in August, and we have managed to keep going with the help of friends here and Andrew Mawdsley, the organist at my other church St John the Divine in Cliviger.

"We are lucky in that we know quite a lot of people who can play and thankfully we will have someone to play for the Christmas services, and the special carol service by the choir this Sunday evening, but after Christmas we are stuck.

"We have a strong musical tradition at the church dating back almost 30 years. The choir is very popular, very much a part of the life of the church. The annual Christmas concerts held on Friday and Saturday were sold out as usual."

Choir master Derek Bell said: "We really are a dynamic church musically. There are 23 members in the choir, and we're affiliated to the Royal School of Church Music, so we sing a lot of traditional songs but also include more modern works."

The Church Square church is looking for an organist who can play at the two Sunday services, and at choir practice every Friday evening.

Derek said: "It's a position that has a lot of potential, because we're a good, enthusiastic choir. We also have some talented youngsters in the parish and we would like to focus on expanding the choir to include younger members, with music that they can relate to.

"The choir sings at a lot of weddings, too, it's a very enthusiastic environment that can offer a lot to an organist."

Anyone who can help can contact Mr Laycock on 01282 428478 .