TRINITY CHURCH, Ossett, has always been a cold church; so warming it up is a priority for its congregation, in Wakefield diocese. But they are also ecologically minded, and the heating scheme in their “Make it hot” campaign is a ground-source heat pump.

Fortunately, although it is a mining district, there has been no mining underneath the churchyard, says Julie Shaw, their church developments co-ordinator; so six boreholes 150-metres deep, extracting heat from the ground, should keep the church at a steady 70°F, which will make “a huge difference”, and enable them to keep the church open seven days a week.

The cost will be £200,000, and they are applying for grants. They are also raising money themselves, most recently by a sponsored slide on a 130-metre zip-wire, which went from the top of the church tower across a local housing estate to a platform in a car park.

The first one down the wire was the Vicar, the Revd Paul Maybury, followed by the Curate, the Revd Helen Collings (pictured right), and 87 other people, including a registered-blind man, and a nine-year-old.

Some were raising money for other charities, such as a local hospice and an animal-rescue centre, but Ms Shaw tells me that the church made a profit of £7500, bringing their total fund-raising to £18,500; and there is more to come.

They are planning three more fund-raising events, including a tower open day with a vintage car rally.