'Ice rink' opens in St Wulfram's Church, Grantham

Worshippers will have to get their skates on to celebrate Christmas in Grantham - with an ice rink in the church.

St Wulfram's has installed the rink to bring a bit of early festive cheer to the Lincolnshire town.

There are also more than 100 decorated Christmas trees adorning the 14th Century building.

The rink - which is not real ice - was installed as part of the church's first Christmas tree festival.

Fr Stuart Cradduck said an ice rink in a church was an unexpected way to celebrate Christmas

Fr Stuart Cradduck took to his skates wearing his vicar's cassock for but recovered after falling on his first outing.

"No-one expects an ice rink inside a church," he said.

"So let's do something unexpected. Be something different and challenge people's conceptions about who we are and what we are doing.

"We're not at Christmas of course, it doesn't start until 25 December, but life is so full and bonkers for people so let's start it now or at least give people a glimpse of the joy of Christmas."