THE courtyard of a church which has been at the centre of a Gwent town for a thousand years resounded with song and prayer in celebration of its renovation.

More than 200 people gathered in brilliant sunshine for a service of dedication on Sunday for the Tithe Barn Courtyard at Abergavenny's St Mary's Priory Church.

They included some of the 50 groups, organisations and individuals who raised nearly £19,000 for 24 hornbeam and four lime trees.

Grants from the Welsh Development Agency and Monmouthshire county council paid for restoring walls and new flagstones in the courtyard, which was being used as access to the car park, but more was needed to complete the area.

Within weeks of the call going out, enough was raised to buy the 11-year-old trees.

Donors ranged from a survivor of the Japanese prisoner of war camps, who dedicated his tree to the memory of all who served and died building the Burma railway, to the town's Rotary Club, which donated cash raised from the annual steam fair.

Sunday school pupils and the after-school club collected pennies to contribute towards a tree, and members of the congregation dedicated their contributions to loved ones.

Other sponsors included the town council, chamber of commerce, HSBC and the International Tree Foundation.

Canon Jeremy Winston, who led the service, said: "The completion of the courtyard with stunning, mature trees is more than the fulfilment of a dream, it displays for our whole community a profound Christian faith which embraces people and the environment."

And Sir Trefor Morris, chairman of St Mary's Priory Development Trust, said the day celebrated the donations of those who helped improve the environment at St Mary's, which is "literally and figuratively at the centre of Abergavenny and has been for a thousand years."