Hundreds visit knitted mice display in church

Belle's Special Year will run until 29 September

An exhibition of knitted mice has attracted hundreds of visitors to a church in the north of the Isle of Man.

About 800 people have visited Belle's Special Year at at Jurby Church daily, which tells a story in over 30 knitted scenes along with verses, since it opened earlier this summer.

Running until 29 September daily between 10:00 to 16:00 BST, funds raised from the display will go towards an ongoing project to refurbish the church.

Sandra Kerrison from Friends of Jurby Church said the scenes were a form of "escapism" and were "how we would like life to be".

There are about 30 knitted scenes accompanied by verses

The Jurby Mice, which were created by Jean Tucker, made their first appearance in the church in 2012.

It was a fundraising initiative as the northern Church was at risk of closure and was inspired by real mice which were found in the building, with Ms Tucker deciding to create a story around them.

Volunteer Ros Richards has also helped to knit the characters for the scenes.

Ms Kerrison said there had been "far more of a response" to this year's exhibition, and there had also been an increase in the number of children, as the exhibition had mostly fallen within term time in the past.

There were "lots of Manx touches" in the scenes, reference to old chapels called Keeills, and to Manx folklore.

The exhibition has raised about £5,000 since the display opened at the end of June.

The money raised is to support the refurbishment, which includes repairs to the church's tower at an estimated cost of £50,000.