A WEST Devon church received a big cash boost last week, when it was announced it would be receiving a substantial grant from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. St John the Baptist Church at Stowford is the only church in West Devon to benefit from a total £2 million package of grants for repairs which has been made available to Grade I and II* Listed churches in the South West. St John?s has been awarded £22,000 under the Repair Grants for Places of Worship Scheme. The Rev Andrew Pagett said he was very pleased with the grant ? which was the first stage of a major fundraising campaign to carry out work at St John?s. Mr Pagett said: ?It?s a small church but extremely beautiful. Unfortunately we have a large amount of work that needs to be done, particularly in the tower. ?It leaks water basically and sooner or later we would have to close it if we can?t get the work done. But we are very anxious not to close it, if we can help it.? Mr Pagett said some parts of the church date back as far as the 12th century, with a lot of the building dating from the 15th century. It was still in use most weeks for services, he said. Mr Pagett estimated that around £150,000 was needed to get the church into a decent state of repair, with the first target being £29,000 to get some initial work under way. ?There is a lot of work to be done,? he said. All Listed places of worship in England are eligible to apply for a grant under the Repair Grants for Places of Worship Scheme. The programme supports urgent repairs to the fabric of Listed places of worship and priority is given to single repair projects costing less than £200,000. Application packs are available after April 1 from the Heritage Lottery Fund website at http://www.hlf.org.uk">www.hlf.org.uk or from English Heritage at http://www.english-heritage.org.uk">www.english-heritage.org.uk Enquiries should be directed to 0870 333 1181.