MALVERN Priory has re-opened to the public for private prayer.

Although there is no news about when full services will resume, the church the church re-opened this week.

Vicar of Malvern Rev. Rod Corke said: "The church is open to everyone, not just to our church members.

"This is a step in the right direction and the start, hopefully, of everything slowly getting back to normal."

The church opened on Monday and will stay open from 11.00am until 1.30pm from Monday to Saturday with the exception of June 20 and 26.

There will be no gathered prayer sessions or general sight seeing and the interior has been re-designed to accommodate a maximum of 20 socially distanced people at a time.

The accessible area is restricted to wooden seats in the nave, the toilets will remain closed and there will be no parking on the drive.

The first day of opening on Monday attracted a number of visitors, both from the congregation and people from other churches, indicating that it is fulfilling a need within the town.

During lockdown the Priory has been putting together pre-recorded morning and evening services online. It has been a hugely successful but time-consuming enterprise.

Up to 25 choristers have separately pre-recorded hymns which have been synchronised for virtual worship and the music group has also been heavily involved.

Rev Corke added: "These services will, of course, continue until we are able to worship together again.

"They have been very successful, with hundreds of hits, and we, of course, have all been on a very steep learning curve."