St John the Baptist Church in Somersham was selected as one of only 10 churches in Cambridgeshire to receive an Engage Award.

The church was chosen because of the installation of the new lighting in the building which has added to the other improvements that have been made in recent years.

The Bishop of Huntingdon visited the church on September 10 to present a certificate and cheque for £100 to Reverend Sue Simpson, members of the parochial church council and the Friends of Somersham Parish Church.

The Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust is giving the awards to encourage churches of any denomination to re-imagine their building and to engage with their local community.

A spokesman for the trust said: “A dark, poorly lit church can be detrimental to worship as well as making the building unattractive for wider-community use.

“The new scheme at Somersham brings alive the architecture of the church building and makes it far more practical for the wide range of activities attracted to this marvellous church.”

The bishop also walked across to Somersham Cross where the Friends of the Church were running a produce stall where he purchased two jars of homemade marmalade. The friends had raised more than £10,000 towards the cost of the lighting.