Glusburn Baptist Chapel is to close, the Herald can reveal.

Church members have reluctantly taken the decision to cease worship at the chapel, based in the village's institute.

The closure has been blamed on a number of different factors including a dwindling congregation, a cash shortage and a lack of people to take on important chapel jobs.

Secretary Jessie Stephenson said the handful of congregation members would merge with the nearby Sutton Baptist Church to form a new body in the near future.

"It's getting increasingly difficult for the congregation to organise the upkeep of the chapel," she said.

"And we only have an average of 20 or so people at our morning service."

Mrs Stephenson added that some weeks no children turned up to take part in the chapel's Sunday School.

"We've not enough children to split up into age groups, so when they do turn up they have to be taught all at once," she said.

Mrs Stephenson said the chapel had tried a number of different ways to increase membership, but these seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"We advertised and we put out information for groups who were using the institute, but not one person came through the door," she said.

The decision to close the chapel was taken following a series of church meetings throughout the year.

Officials from the Yorkshire Baptist Association are meeting with church officials to sort out the legal aspects of the close and no final date has been set.

"The church members are all really upset that it's come to this - it's not a decision that's been taken lightly," said Mrs Stephenson.

"With a Baptist church less than a mile down the road, we're hoping that an expanding area like Sutton will attract more people."

Glusburn Baptist Chapel is the second church to close in the village in the last two years.

All Saints' Church, known locally as the tin-tab because of the materials from which it was built, was shut after falling into a state of disrepair.

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The building was demolished last year, and the site was sold for housing.

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