COMMUNITY support will help a Caerwent church stay open after it was vandalised recently.

St Stephen and St Tathan Church was targeted on 13th January when a gold metal processional cross was completely bent and its shaft was broken in half.

The church received a flood of donations to fix the cross but it was fixed free of charge. Those donations may now play a part in keeping the church open during the week, a service that was threatened by the vandalism.

Any donations given to the church now could fund CCTV to give the historic building some safety from vandals.

Reverend John Waters, the ordained focal minister for the church said fortunately someone within the church group was a metal worker who was able to fix the cross.

He said: “We didn’t want to replace it because it was given in memory of someone, fortunately somebody has given their time and skills to refurbish it.”

The incident meant there had to be consideration given to the opening times of the church, Rev Waters added: “We have had to make decisions about not remaining open during the week or keeping the church open and putting in CCTV.

“It is a shame as this is not only a place of worship, but we are custodians of Roman artefacts and get many tourists during the summer.”

“In an attempt to keep the church open during the week, we hope to get someone in to look at CCTV to get an idea of what that might cost.”

Even though the donations the church received were not needed for the cross, Rev Waters was still overwhelmed by the response they received once people heard about the incident.

“We have had an amazing response from the community, even though they might not be regular visitors but are concerned about what have happened,” he continued.

“The Christian community in Caerwent is indebted in time and money to those who have given to protect this lovely building.

“It would be a great shame for another church to close down and any more money that comes in means we can hopefully get a more sophisticated system.”

Gwent Police are still investigating the incident and Police Community Support Officer Tim Norville said: “If you were in the area at the time and saw anything no matter how small please come forward.”

Anyone who has any information regarding this incident should call 101 quoting log number: 174 16/01/2017.