THE love of money might be the root of all evil, but a lack of it is far more worrying for the churchwardens of Trinity.

They have urged parishioners to dig a little deeper and find a fiver when they once handed over a pound – or risk losing use of the parish church for weddings, funerals and even at Christmas.The cash is needed to find the £50,000 the church has to send to the Winchester diocese every year.Churchwardens Angela Le Sueur and Frank Leighton issued the stark warning in a letter sent out earlier this month.

After bidding parishioners a prosperous new year, they then asked for more cash.The letter warned: ‘We are sending out this letter because, as churchwardens, we have to make the congregation and other users of Trinity Church wake up to the fact that our finances are at a very serious stage.

At present we do not receive enough money to allow us to cover our expenses and outgoings.

Nowadays, a weekly gift of £1 falls short of what we need.’