AN iconic Leytonstone church faces falling into serious disrepair unless £250,000 can be raised to fix its crumbling tower and roof.

St John's Church, in Leytonstone High Road, has been offered a grant of £96,000 from English Heritage but this must be matched by donations or the funding will be lost.

Reverend Raymond Draper, who is the vicar at St John's, said: “What we discovered a few years ago is that our roofs are really in serious need of complete replacement.

“We've been raising funds and trying to get a grant but we found our tower has serious problems that need to be addressed urgently as well.”

A total of £12,000 has already been raised but the full £96,000 to match the English Heritage grant must be raised by March next year.

Rev Draper said: “We need to raise a total of £123,000 to pay for all the repairs. We need to raise the £96,000 but we want to do more than that.

“The tower is basically crumbling and the roof is leaking as the slates are worn out and the nails have lost their strength.”

Part of the tower collapsed in the 1880s and was repaired with an iron frame.

But the frame has now begun to rust and expand, damaging the stonework further.

“It's blowing the stonework out,” Rev Draper said.

“Last year, we spent £10,000 just on patching the roof – we can't go on spending that kind of money.”

To contribute to the appeal, you can fill in a form and either make a gift to the church or organise an event and donate the proceeds.

Forms are available from the church.