A YORK church will be shut over Christmas - but is set to re-open in the New Year - after being forced to close its doors when rain leaking through the roof ‘blew the electrics.’

The congregation at St Aidan’s Church in Ridgeway, Acomb, are going to Sunday services at another Acomb church, St Stephen’s in York Road.

Groups that use the church hall, such as keep fit, a toddlers’ group and dancers, have also been temporarily re-located.

Church warden Rachel Parker said the problems arose during heavy rain in the autumn when water leaked through the roof and onto a power board and blew the electrics out - also affecting a local electricity sub-station.

She said the church had been waiting for the power company to come and fix the problem, and hoped the work would be completed next week.

Clean-up work would then need to be done and the church would also need to be warmed up, allowing it to finally re-open in the New Year.

St Aidan’s is the second Acomb church to be hit by roof problems this year.

The roof at Our Lady’s Catholic Church, in Gale Lane,in York collapsed with a crash that “sounded like an earthquake” in the summer.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt in the incident, as the church wasn’t busy at the time, with a group of only about 10 people at the other end of the church to pray, compared with about 400 people who packed the church on Sundays during Mass.