LAST year, Chelmsford diocese had 10,000 specially designed holding-crosses made from old pews to help people pray. The first ones were made in Kenya, but, since then, two young men who run a small workshop in Suffolk have been making them.

All of them have been taken up by the parishes in the diocese as one of the ways of encouraging members of the congregation, and others, to "hold on" to God and the Christian faith. The response has been so encouraging - the parishes usually pay £4 for each cross, and sell it on for £5 - that individual churches are being offered the chance to have their own unwanted pews turned into the crosses.

"Pews are where people pray, and, if they are no longer needed, there is something heart-warming about turning them into holding crosses, which are also designed to help people pray," Canon Edward Carter, who initiated the project, says. "This new bespoke option with the Chelmsford Holding Cross means that the link is kept local, and it's already proving to be very popular."