ST Martin’s Church in Worcester is more than a century old, but it needs needs a new electrical and lighting system for the 21st century.

A major fundraising appeal, to the tune of £90,000, has now been launched, - to get rid of the building's Edwardian wiring.

The campaign is called SMILE - St Martin's Interior Lighting & Electrics, and as part of the improvement drive the church, on the London Road, will be a hive of activity this Saturday, October 4, from 10am to 4pm.

The church has invited everyone in its parish, and beyond, to an open day to showcase the many groups and organisations that use the church building and to present details of its proposed new lighting and electrics scheme.

The Edwardian church still has much of the original electrical installation from over a hundred years ago, but this now needs to be replaced and brought up to modern standards.

David Scott, Open Day organiser, said:"Over the years, the life of the church has changed, and our beautiful building is now used for an increasing number of activities. In addition to regular worship, Christenings, weddings and funerals, it's used for schools, hospice and memorial services, nativity plays, school visits, Messy Church and coffee mornings. With its splendid organ, glorious acoustic and comfortable seating, St Martin's is a popular venue for concerts, and it's now the home of the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra. So there's an urgent need to cater for this increased activity with good flexible lighting and power points."

Visitors to the Open Day will be able to learn about the new lighting project from displays of the scheme, and video presentations will tell some of the history of the church. The four primary schools in the parish - Red Hill, Stanley Road, Nunnery Wood and Fort Royal - who all use the church for educational visits and special services, will have displays, along with Scouts, Guides and London Road Playgroup, as well as several groups who regularly use the church for concerts. There will be live musical interludes throughout the day, including performances by children from Red Hill and Stanley Road schools. Free tea and coffee will be served, St Martin's Choir will be running a home-made cake-stall, and there'll be a Treasure Hunt for children.

The Rector, Canon Ken Boyce said: "At the beginning of the last century no-one was sure that electric lighting would catch on and so the architect's plans were for gas. It was a churchwarden of the time who rather high-handedly made a unilateral decision at the last minute to install electric lights. As it happens, I think we all feel most grateful for that decision and we hope that what we do for the next hundred years will be good for succeeding generations here."

Over the coming months a number of SMILE events are planned to help towards the fundraising, including concerts, a barn dance and a quiz night.

Looking further afield, the church has pledged to make a donation out of its general funds to the international charity SolarAid. For every lamp that is purchased for the Church, it will give £3 to enable SolarAid to provide a clean, affordable solar lamp to people in rural Africa, - replacing the kerosene lamp.

Further details on, 01905 358083.