SEVEN hundred people signed a petition calling for a 100-year-old valleys church to be saved from closure.

As previously reported, Christchurch in Aberbeeg, faces being declared redundant, after it shut its doors in November due to dwindling congregation numbers.

The Grade II listed building is also said to need around £140,000 worth of structural repairs and other improvements.

Members of the Friends of Christchurch, who have vowed to fight an application by the local church council to close it, met the Bishop of Monmouth The Right Reverent Dominic Walker on Tuesday to ask him to reconsider the plan.

Llanhilleth councillor Hedley McCarthy said the meeting was positive with the Bishop saying he did not intend to rush the process and agreeing to allow time for all options to be explored before any decision was made.

The councillor said: "That's a damn sight more positive than we were getting before. I appreciate the Bishop coming, his positive contribution did give us a lot of hope.

"It (the church) is important to the community, there is very strong feeling about it as a petition of that size tells you."

Cllr McCarthy reiterated his offer to Parish priest Reverend Patrick Coleman for the use of Aberbeeg Community Centre, which would give supporters time to raise the funds needed for the repairs and give them to opportunity to boost the congregation's number.

Church officials have questioned the church's role in the community after the average attendance fell from 20 in the 1970s to just 11 now.

As a result,  it is not raising its part of the £13,400 needed annually for clergy salaries and other costs.