A CHURCH centrepiece, donated by Burnley philanthropist Sir John Thursby, is set to be refurbished after a 25-year campaign.

Ornate carvings behind the high altar at St Andrew’s, in Duke Bar, date back 112 years but had gradually become tarnished and worn.

Former vicar, Canon Bryan Robinson, started a fund to repair the screen, called a reredos, in the mid 1980s.

But as parishioners collected money for the painstaking restoration work, their target gradually increased.

Now the St Andrew’s congregation has been awarded a £24,300 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete the task.

Sir John Thursby presented the reredos and two stained glass windows to St Andrew’s in the late 19th Century and the work was carried out by Charles Eamer Kempe.

Rare for its kind, the reredos is in a Bavarian style and features a Germanic Jerusalem behind a Crucifixion scene.

Burnley historian Roger Frost said: “It is fortunate that Sir John Thursby, who was from a very religious family, should donate such a wonderful reredos, and that such an eminent designer as Kempe should be commissioned to undertake the work.

“This was done at a time when the town was expanding fast and was at the peak of the Victorian religious revival.”

The fund for the reredos was started with a £2,000 donation from Canon Bryan, as a parting gift from the faithful.

Current vicar Canon Peter Hapgood-Strickland said: “Parishioners had managed to increase the fund to over £13,000.

"But the cost of the work kept on rising and without this lottery funding, the reredos would continue to deteriorate and lose its beauty.”

Work begins next Monday on the cleaning and an open day has been planned for Saturday, July 10.