A TEAM of eager volunteers transforming churches all over the South West, stopped off in Princetown to give St Michaels and All Angels Church a much needed makeover.

Organised by Community Service Volunteers (CSV) and the Churches Conservation Trust, a national charity protecting historic churches at risk, the Exeter and Dartmoor Cathedral Camp team worked for two and a half days to revamp the tired looking church, inside and out.

The ten volunteers and two leaders sanded down the churchyard gates in preparation for painting, thoroughly cleaned the church interior, polished pews and furniture, conducted an elevation survey of the building and began a comprehensive graveyard survey.

Cathedral camp attracts young people aged between 16 and 20 from a variety of backgrounds and countries. This year the camp had two English language students from Japan, a French student, a Vietnamese mathematician and artist and six English students.

St Michaels and All Angels is one of a number of redundant churches owned by the Churches Conservation Trust being renovated by Cathedral Camps.

The Rev Nick Shutt said: We are very grateful to the team of volunteers. The work they have done clearly shows that this building is still cared for, even though it is no longer used for Sunday services.

Thomasin Westcott, the trusts regional development officer for the South West, said: The hard work of these young volunteers will be particularly appreciated by the small group, Friends of St Michaels, who have been giving up their Sundays throughout the summer to open the church for visitors to enjoy.

Locals will notice the improvement to the churchyard gates and all the cleaning and polishing means the church should be looking its best for the annual community carol service.