A HEYSHAM rector prayed with members of his congregation for divine help - after a blaze in the church forced his evening service to be called off.

The Rev Eric Lacey, of St Peter's Church in Heysham, was in Chorley as a guest preacher when the blaze swept through the back of St James Church on Sunday evening.

The shocked congregation were forced to abandon their pews but determined parishioners and Mr Lacey were intent on carrying on with worshiping outside afterwards.

Firefighters tackled the blaze just as the church was opened up to prepare for the service at 5.40pm.

Heysham parishioner Linda Laurenson explained what happened.

She said: "Smoke started billowing out of the back of the church, in the vestry.

"The firemen were called out and they used turbo jets to blow air through the church.

Afterwards we carried on with the service outside, it was very touching and we were thankful no one had been hurt."

Mr Lacey had spent most of the day at St James after baptising his baby grand daughter Elysha, earlier that morning.

St James's vicar, the Rev. George Thomas, explained: "People prayed in the church grounds and here in the vicarage over a cup of coffee and tea for the Lord to help out."

The fire caused substantial damage to the church's vestry and ceilings

He added: "We are hoping the insurance will cover it. You can always do without things like this but what you discover is how people pull together - so many people offer help."

Mr Thomas said firefighters had not detected the cause of the fire.

"They are mystified. There's no sign of a break in, so we don't think it's anything like that," he added.

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