WITH Dingestow Church in desperate need of new toilet facilities, Reverend Gill Williams and her sister Mrs Barbara Fry, both from Kings Fee, sprung into action to help with the fundraising efforts.

With encouragement from Reverend Simon Guest and generous donations of knitting yarn from people in the parish,the ladies have so far managed to create and sell more than 400 knitted mice.

The mice have proved more popular than Gill or Barbara could have hoped, and many people are collecting whole 'families' of church mice.

The mice even have their own mobile stall, The Mouse Hole, which travels around local schools and village fêtes.

One 'mouse owner', Yasmin Hay, took her little mouse on holiday to France, where they were photographed on a skiing trip.

This sparked Yasmin's mother Stephanie, to came up with the idea of a picture competition (photos preferably, but drawings or paintings can also be submitted) to find the mouse who is pictured in the most unusual place or situation.

The competition is free to enter with the only requirement being that the entrants must own a Dingestow Church Mouse.

Entry forms are available at Brian Williams' shop in St Mary Street and in Dingestow Stores where these little mice are also on sale.

The mice are making an appearance at Dingestow Church fête on Saturday 27th August, where you can also pick up an entry form for the competition.

The competition, which will run until December, will be judged by local artist Lynda Jones, and there will be a small prize given to the winner in each category.

If you would like The Mouse Hole stall to visit your fête you can contact Gill on 01600 716696.