Nearly seven decades ago, 16-year-old Florence Blanchard joined the congregation at St Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Bradford.

On Saturday she will be among those who lament its passing as the final mass is held before the building is sold.

The church in East Parade opened in 1876 and is regarded by many as among the city's finest.

But it is one of the victims of a closure programme by the Leeds Roman Catholic Diocese which is wrestling with falling attendances, spiralling repair costs and a shortage of priests.

Father Jonathan Hart will hold the last mass at 5.30pm on Saturday - Armistice Day.

Mrs Blanchard, now 83, of Ledbury Place, East Bowling, said: "It is such a shame: St Mary's has been a large part of my and many hundreds of others' lives."

She was born just around the corner from the church and was married there in 1942.

She still attends its services, travelling by Access bus to get there.

She said: "Everything seems to be about money nowadays. I can't understand why it has to be sold in the first place.

"I have good memories of going to the church with my family. I got married there on September 5, 1942. I had a white wedding - but it poured down on the day.

"The church itself has never really changed but there used to be more going on. They used to have big processions which went all round the area and my children used to take part."

The Leeds Diocese, which controls Bradford's Roman Catholic churches, announced in July that it intended to merge 20 churches and close ten after an extensive review.

One of the main reasons, said the Leeds Diocese, is to help priests provide better pastoral support to parishioners.

Diocesan spokesman John Grady said: "It has been on the cards for a long time. It is sad that the last service at St Mary's is on Saturday but that is the situation. We were faced with a situation where the churches and the people were not in the same place. Although St Mary's does have a congregation of about 200, they do not live nearby.

"We have to put the priests where the parishioners are.

"It is a magnificent church and if we could move it we would, but we can't."

The church, a listed building, has huge running costs and is in need of repairs costing an estimated £2 million.

Father-of-two Martin Raistrick, 42, has been going to the church since he was married there 12 years ago.

He said: "We are calling the mass a celebration of St Mary's, so instead of it being a sad day we are trying to focus on the positive."

Mr Raistrick has been trying to keep the church open.

He said: "A lot of people are very upset. It is such a beautiful old building. It will be a loss to Bradford's heritage and it's a shame we didn't get any funding."

On a positive note, three new churches will be built in Bradford, in areas where worshippers live so there will be priests where the people are.

And the diocese hopes to open a central venue to provide a spiritual and social presence in the city.

e-mail: ali.davies@bradford.newsquest.co.uk