Cathedral asks for Christmas donations after 'challenging year'

Worcester Cathedral said funds from tourism and sales from our small shop and café "have all but disappeared"

A cathedral is asking for Christmas donations after losing half its regular income this year.

Although visitors have been allowed to return, coronavirus restrictions left "a significant hole" of about £250,000 in Worcester Cathedral's finances.

Daily running costs are around £7,000 and money is also needed for ongoing repairs and to pay the staff.

And clergy said donations would keep it "open, warm and brightly lit through this challenging Christmas".

The Dean of the cathedral, Peter Atkinson, said the shortfall was "quite serious".

He asked people who had planned to visit this year, either as tourists or worshippers, to consider donating the money they might have left in collection dishes or spent at the cathedral's shop or cafe.

The cathedral reopened to visitors on 2 December, following England's second national lockdown and is planning to hold a number of Christmas services, which will also be streamed online.

A statement on the cathedral's website said 2020 had been an "extraordinary and challenging year".

It added: "For more than a thousand years, through war, revolution and sickness, the Cathedral has been here to welcome and support our community, and every individual within it. And 2020 has been no exception."