ST Aidan's Church in Thorneyburn has staged a remarkable comeback to celebrate its 200th birthday just three years after it was threatened with closure.

The church celebrated its bicentenary with a host of services and events during the weekend of August 3 to 5, raising £1,000 for the church’s maintainance fund.

Parishioners were invited to wear period dress from 1818 to the modern day at a garden party to mark the historic occasion.

The party, at the church rectory, was hosted by resident Kate Hersey and raised more than £700 with games, a tombola, a coconut shy and a jam sale.

And more than £200 was raised from pre-ordered booklets on the history of the churches in the Simonburn parish.

Historian Anne Monroe produced the 48-page booklet,which includes photographs of the churches at Thorneyburn, Greystead, Wark and Humshaugh.

St Aidan’s was threatened with closure three years ago after the roof was deemed to be ‘at risk’.

However, a £50,060 grant from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund allowed for a significant restoration project.

Church warden Caroline Waitt, said: “We had a generous grant from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund, without which we would have been unable to do the work.

“We also had generous support from the Greenwich Commissioners, as well as local support and from our own diocese.”

During the weekend’s celebrations, John Holland played the role of the Rev. William Elliot, the founder of the church, at both the garden party and a thanksgiving service attended by Royal Navy associates.

Mr Holland recited extracts from t Elliott’s diary about his time in the Royal Navy.

Other activities included a talk and service on St Aidan and the influences of Celtic Christianity.

A timeline mapping the church’s history is on display for the next month, and includes an old wedding dress and photographs and documents linked to the church.

Visitors can see who has been married, baptised and buried at the church over the centuries, as well as who has played or pumped the organ.

The Rev. Dr Susan Ramsaran is the current team rector of North Tyne and Redesdale, which includes St Aidan’s.

She said:“I came to the parish in 2006 from Kent after being invited by the Bishop of Newcastle, who knew I was committed to rural ministry and despite geographical differences, I was still right for the job.”

St Aidan’s Church was built in 1818 by the Greenwich Hospital Commissioners to provide a living for ex Royal Navy chaplains after the Napoleonic Wars, in one of the most remote and densely populated rural parishes in England.

Elliot served as a naval chaplain for 11 years before taking retirement to assume the post of rector of Thorneyburn in 1819, and later Simonburn in 1829, where he died in 1841.

The governors of Greenwich Hospital, which owned the rectory at Simonburn, obtained permission from parliament in 1811 to create five new rectories in Bellingham, Wark, Thorneyburn, Greystead and Falstone (and later Humshaugh), and build in each a ‘proper and convenient parsonage’. The houses were ready by 1818 and accommodated the naval chaplains, who tended to find life in the Northumberland hills extremely lonely after the companionship of service at sea.

“Here’s hoping we’re able to last another 200 years,” Dr Ramsaran added.

* The redundant church of St Luke in Greystead also opened its doors to the public over the weekend to see its conversion into holiday accommodation.