Benefactors across the UK and in the US have pledged their support to Haworth Parish Church £1.25 million restoration appeal.

Donations totalling almost £5,000 have flooded in from as far afield as London, Gloucester, Northern Ireland and the US following a call for help made in the Telegraph & Argus on Boxing Day.

Before Christmas, church leaders warned they could lose a £100,000 English Heritage grant to repair the badly leaking south roof unless they raised £65,000 in match funding before the middle of January.

An appeal started last spring had only raised £33,000 meaning fundraisers had to find the remaining £32,000 in a matter of weeks.

Haworth Parish Council chairman John Huxley, who is also chairman of the church’s Future Group and secretary of the Parochial Church Council said: “The response has been superb and we feel deeply humbled by it.

“Since Boxing Day we have received more than £4,500 from well wishers. Obviously we have still got to raise a lot more but it is a big step along the way.

“People are now aware of the situation and we have more hope than we had before.”

Following the report in the T&A, the church’s plight was also publicised in the national and international media, including in Ulster, Wales and the US.

In the last seven days, a donation of £1,000 was made through the parish church website and Haworth Primary School gardening club donated a further £500. A charitable trust in Ilkley has also contacted the church to discuss a possible donation.

Priest-in-charge of the Parish Church The Reverend Peter Mayo-Smith said: “It has been wonderful really to realise that so many people do care so passionately about the church. A lot of people have been putting their hands in their pockets and sending us donations. It is very humbling and we are extremely grateful. I am now optimistic we will reach our target.”

The church is visited by more than one million people every year. Its crypt contains the bodies of famous literary sisters Charlotte and Emily Bronte.

The sisters’ father, the Reverend Patrick Bronte, was the vicar in the 1800s.

Donations can be made online at haworthchurch.co.uk or cheques made payable to Haworth Church Restoration Fund can be sent c/o the treasurer, 17 North View Terrace, Haworth, BD22 8HJ