Volunteers are being sought to help a Cleator church open up to the public.

St Leonard's Church has been a place of worship for over 900 years and plays host to numerous visitors from around the world.

But currently there are not enough people available to open up the church on a regular basis and the church council is hoping more volunteers will come forward to become visitor hosts.

A statement from the church council said: "We would like to ensure that it is open for longer so as not to disappoint people who arrive only to find it is locked and are not able to view this lovely historic church.

Cleator Moor Town Council recently gave a grant to St Leonard’s to pay towards some of the costs of having the church open longer and to provide communications to visitors and information booklets for the training of visitor hosts.

But more visitor hosts are needed to enable the opening times to be extended.

If you are interested in the history of the church as well as the local village history, have a couple of hours a week to spare, and would like to volunteer to be a church host, for which training will be given, contact 07773 243619.