A £25,000 boost to historic Haworth Parish Church has come from the church’s volunteer support group.

The Friends of the Brontës’ Church handed over money for the Church Restoration Fund during the weekly Sunday service.

The money was raised through a series of events as well as a weekly souvenir stall at the church, known as St Michael and All Saints.

The Victorian church building, on a site where services were led by the Rev Patrick Brontë, father of the famous writing sisters, currently faces a bill of more than £40,000 for essential electrical re-wiring.

Peter Breed, churchwarden and the Friends’ chairman, said the group was focused on raising funds and awareness for the church.

He said: “As we have been very successful with both our retail stand and running a number of concerts, we’re able to make a significant donation towards the necessary re-wiring work.”

The Rev Peter Mullins, the Rector of Haworth, describe the Friends as a remarkable group.

He added: “They dedicate an almost unbelievable number of hours running their stalls in church. This huge sum is witness to their effort.

“We are also hugely grateful for the way they are also there to welcome people and be a human face of the church for visitors.

“We are taking the opportunity of the rewiring to introduce a new lighting scheme. Those who know the building best will be astonished what a difference things like up-lighting will make in showing off remarkable features of the building.

“We have the necessary permissions in place and a tendering process under way. We expect work through October and November to limit the full accessibility of the building but will try to operate as normally as possible.”

Haworth Parish Church, the third church building on the site, was built between 1879 and 1881 although parts of the original medieval church building, including the tower, survived from earlier periods.

The church is best known for its historic association with the Bronte sisters whose father the Rev Patrick Bronte served as minister of the parish between 1820 and 1861.

According to Wikipedia, there has been a chapel on the site since at least 1488. The church was rebuilt in the 18th century in coarse dressed millstone with Westmorland slate on the roof.

Further rebuilding in the late 1800s caused outcry as the church, parsonage and Haworth had become a big attraction due to it’s connection with of the Brontë family.

The graveyard alongside the church is estimated to contain more than 40,000, with some graves containing entire families. Click Due to overcrowding the graveyard closed in 1883.