Dedicated volunteers from St John the Evangelist Church in Sidcup raised £2,000 as part of their ongoing campaign to fund new facilities.

A Christmas tree festival and craft fair attracted eager shoppers looking for that special Christmas present to give to a loved one.

Reverend Cathy Knight-Scott told News Shopper the funds raised will go towards getting much-needed facilities in the church as it currently has some issues which impact the services it provides.

"We have no running water in the church. If we have one of our mother and baby groups on, we have to go outside just to fill up water bottles to make tea and coffee," she explained.

Volunteers have to fill jugs outside to make tea and coffee

She also explained the church has no indoor toilets which prevents it from taking part in the diocese's homeless shelter project.

Also on the list of facility needs is a disabled toilet, as well as complete disability access at the church entrance.

"There's not even proper access for women with buggies. Also, having to take small children to the loo outside isn't ideal either," she said.

The reverend said she only became the church's vicar five months ago, but is determined to "turbo-charge" the project until the overall goal is reached.

"We have the planning permission to get these facilities installed, we just need to raise the funds.

"We raised £2,000 over the weekend which puts us just over the £50,000 mark. However, the overall cost of the works we need done is around £250,000," she said.

The mayor of Bexley, Councillor Brian Bishop also attended the weekend's festivities along with officers from Sidcup police who were caught sporting some festive face paint afterwards.