LOCALS and visitors have an opportunity to explore the history and heritage of St Leonard's Church, in Chapel-le-Dale, this month.

The St Leonard's heritage exhibition will include a collection of watercolours by the late Rev James Wynne Williams and the official launch of the new church history entitled The Chapel of the Fells.

The free exhibition takes place at the church and will be open on Saturday August 23 and Monday August 25 from 10.30am until 4.30pm and on Sunday August 24 from 10.30am to 2.30pm, followed by a service at 3pm.

The event is one of a series organised by the parochial church council thanks to sponsorship from the Local Heritage Initiative in partnership with the Nationwide Building Society and the Countryside Agency.

Other plans include carrying out a historical and architectural assessment of the church, conducting a topographical survey of the churchyard to record the location of graves, repairing fallen and unsafe gravestones and arranging a programme of lectures, exhibitions and school visits to reveal the vital role the church plays in community life.

The lectures aim to explore the history of St Leonard's and explain its development over the years. They include "The Chapel of Ease at Ingleton Fells" by Dr Angus Winchester, of Lancaster University, on Friday October 3 at 7.30pm; "The Railway Years in Chapel le Dale" by William R Mitchell MBE, on Friday November 14 at 7.30pm; and "Victorian Vicars and their Successors" by Gerald Tyler, on Friday January 16 2004 at 7.30pm.

Admission will be £3 and all the money raised will go towards church funds.