Hitting the heights

Dot Hingston admiring the exhibits

INTRICATE patchworks using every colour of the rainbow brought the historic Heights Church alive in Delph during a rare open week.

The Piecemakers Quilting group took on what they dubbed “the Heights challenge” to stitch together 10 works of fabric art using the same pattern.

The result is spectacular as the finished pieces hang alongside work from the Old Pilgrim Lacemakers and the Tame Valley Rag Ruggers.

The celebration is part of a week-long fringe event to mark the Saddleworth Festival of the Arts, that has seen the church, closed in 1963, open daily to the public.

Enthusiastic organisers are also giving one of the quilts away in a raffle on Sunday to raise cash for the Stroke Association.

Organiser Sue Lund said: “We have some of the original stencils used to decorate the church in the 1940s on display, and the church is so colourful.

“A lot of people have very happy memories of the church from childhood. This gives people a chance to see the church once again and bring it back to life.”

The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 4pm, and a Songs of Praise event will close the week on Sunday, at 3pm.