THE Guardian's year-long campaign to raise cash for a church damaged by randy woodpeckers has ended in success.

The £3,000 needed to hire a steeplejack to repair the proud wooden spire of St Thomas' Church in Navestock has been collected following a fantastic effort from the local community.

Flower sales, live music evenings, sponsored bike rides, and an auctioned pleasure flight are just some of the fantastic fundraisers organised by our generous readers since we launched our appeal last April.

The church in Shonks Mill Road survived a war-time bomb attack by the Germans but parishioners feared a three-year invasion by squadrons of Great Spotted Woodpeckers could succeed where Hitler failed.

In a bid to attract a mate, the birds were flying in from local woodlands to launch early-morning assaults on the eardrums of the congregation and had hammered hundreds of holes into the cedar tiles of the spire.

That left it open to infestations by insects and at risk of substantial weather damage and, with initial repair estimates at a whooping £30,000 for a church already struggling on a tight budget, warden Mary Enkel came to the Guardian for help.

The appeal quickly became national news after it was featured on an ITV evening news programme.

Mary, 74, said: "On behalf of the Parochial Church Council at St Thomas' I would like to offer our sincere thanks Epping Forest Guardian for all its help and support.

"We are very proud of our church, which we consider to be one of the most beautiful in the area, and now we have sufficient money start the work to repair the damage."

The works are set to begin in mid June.