Christmas has come early this year for Newport's St Mary's Church, which has secured initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to repair the building.

St Mary's Church, Newport, a popular calling point for thousands of locals and holidaymakers, has been awarded part of an HLF grant of £108,800 to develop plans to repair its rugged tower (the interior floors of which are collapsing) and the mullions of some of the windows which have also worn badly, admitting inclement weather.

After passing this first round of the funding application the church now has up to two years to submit fully developed proposals to HLF to compete for a firm award.

The HLF grant will enable essential repairs to be made to the listed building, as well as funding new ways of sharing the building's heritage with the public. They include publishing a new edition of the church guide, setting up a parish website and erecting a new church sign.

St Mary's, which has earmarked £20,000 towards the repairs from its reserves, has also been promised £3,000 by the Church in Wales' Representative Body and awaits the result of other grant applications.

The grant will enable the parish to keep its church doors open and share its heritage with even more visitors than ever.

Jennifer Stewart, Head of HLF in Wales said, "Wales' many churches are an important part of our shared heritage and are strongly associated with the local identity of the communities they serve. We are thrilled that this project has been awarded an initial grant".