A congregation is celebrating completing a major restoration programme on its 18th century church.

St John's Church in Rooley Lane, Bierley, was considered for demolition in 2000 but now thanks to the dedication of the parishioners and their vicar the Georgian church has undergone a major £300,000 restoration programme to restore it to its former glory.

The vicar of St John's, Father Kevin Tromans, said the results were testimony to the efforts of the congregation.

"The task facing the congregation was enormous but they have all worked tremendously hard to achieve it," he said.

The church, the second oldest Anglican church in Bradford, started the appeal to raise £275,000 to restore the church three years ago.

The church was successful in obtaining funding from English Heritage, which donated £170,000, the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, that supports historic churches and donated a grant of £27,000, and £5,000 came from the Yorkshire Historic Churches Fund.

Father Tromans said parishioners had worked non-stop to raise the money and complete the work.

"So many people have been involved but examples of work are Eileen Huggert who cooked boundless amounts of cakes," he said.

"Derek Burden and Jeff Pickes worked tirelessly to complete DIY work."

The parishioners raised between £20,000 and £25,000 for the restoration programme and the church also received a legacy from a former parishioner.

Improvements to the grade II listed building included work on the roof, a new drainage system and work to make the church accessible to the disabled.

"We have restored the outside of the church to its former glory and the inside to a modern church accessible to everyone," said Father Tromans.

Since the work started the congregation has doubled.

"We now have more people coming to the church because of the strengthened community spirit and the fact that it is a very welcoming congregation."

The church was built in 1766 by John Carr of York, a leading architect of his day who also designed Harewood House.

Parishioners have organised an open weekend to celebrate the completion of the restoration project.

The Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe, will visit the church on Sunday at 6.30pm for a special service to celebrate its achievements.