An appeal to raise funds for a St Ives church has already hit thousands of pounds, just days after launching.

Members of the Free Church, in Market Hill, are hoping to raise £55,000 for essential restorative work on its spire, including concrete work and stonework repairs.

The campaign – dubbed Save our Spire – has so far collected about £2,000, thanks to a fundraising drive only launched at the start of the year.

“The church has a report done every five years and one of the things is a spire report,” Nev Runham, a member of the fundraising committee, said.

“We arranged for a company to come out and they highlighted the need for bits and pieces to be done. It’s not going to fall down tomorrow, but work needs to be done.”

Mr Runham, who has been working with seven other committee members, says work laid out in the 2015 report is due to start in the spring, thanks to funds already owned by the church and, he added, repairs should take between 10 and 12 weeks.

But more is needed, and plenty of other fundraising events have already been scheduled to help boost funds.

“I think the church is a great community building and used by many groups,” Nev added.

“It’s not just for a Sunday morning service then locked up, but used seven days a week and nearly 52 weeks of the year. It’s very iconic in St Ives and the spire is the first thing people see.”

In fact, its spire has been in the town for more than 150 years.

Since launching the appeal, the church has held cake sales, donation pots, and a winter concert.

The next fundraising event will be a table top sale on January 28 in the Free Church hall.

It will run from 9.30am to 1pm and tables four foot long are £4, or £6 for six foot long.

A tombola will also be there on the day, and to book a spot, e-mail Sully Runham at sallyrunham@btinternet.com.