Prayers answered as Henry the moggie crawls out of the wall

Church Street residents and members of the congregation at St Peter's gathered outside the church on Sunday morning. They were there in the hope of rescuing Henry the moggie who had been missing from his nearby home since the previous Wednesday.

Henry's plaintive "meeoows" of distress could be heard from beneath the building.

But it took the efforts of local builder Mark Cornford before Henry eventually walked free - in his own time.

Mark removed a ventilation stone from the 1200 year-old parish church after Henry was seen - and heard - from behind it.

A cheer went up when the stone was removed.

But frightened Henry had disappeared from sight once more.

It wasn't until late on Sunday evening that a bedraggled Henry finally returned him.

Henry's sorrowing owner, 12 year-old Tim Bennett, was delighted to see his beloved pet otherwise fit and well.

Tim, of Church Street, said this week: "We noticed that he was missing on Friday evening. Then someone said they had seen heard him over at the church on Wednesday because he was meeoowing during a service!

"We asked the Rector and all the other people in the area and they all said he was in the boiler room.

"We were putting this food and drink in the hole in the wall. We were hoping he would be able to get out.

"But he didn't. So on Sunday morning we cut a stone out and put some food inside. But he wouldn't come out.

"Later that day he just came home. He wandered in through the gate and Mum said 'Henry's home...'

"He's gone off once before. We have only recently moved in and went off for about three days."

Technically, a Diocesan permission known as a Faculty is required before work is done on an historic church. But the Rector, the Rev Canon Dr Edward Bryant is a cat-lover and these were extenuating circumstances.

Mr Bryant said: "Michael Brydon had his first eucharist in the church last Wednesday.

"There was this noise and everyone was looking to see what it was. We thought it was seagulls. We were saying Evening Prayer on Thursday and Debbie Beecher rushed out saw this cat peering through the hole!

"Then the owners came knocking on my door. They had seen it looking out the hole and had begun to feed it..

"On Sunday morning, Mark Cornford got his disc-cutter and removed the stone. Apparently, the cat came out about eight hours later. There had been half a dozen people keeping vigil there." Later, a grateful Tim put up a notice by the hole in the church wall announcing that Henry was now safe.