FALLING attendances have forced a village church to abandon its annual fete.

For more than 40 years St Mary’s Anglican Church in Long Wittenham has held a fundraiser in the garden of the Plough pub.

But the curtain has come down on the popular event because the 12th Century church cannot attract enough volunteers to run the August fete.

Parishioners found it increasingly difficult to find willing helpers on the day and in the lead up to the event.

The fete was going to be raising money towards the £60,000 revamp of the church, including toilets and a kitchen facility.