IT'S the end of an era for an historic Stourbridge church which is to hold its last ever service on New Year's Day.

The congregation at St John's United Reformed Church has dwindled to just a handful of members and the grade II listed building is in desperate need of repairs so churchgoers have reluctantly decided to call it a day.

A final Sunday Service is set to take place on January 1 at 10.30am.

Jon Syed, church secretary, said: "It has taken a lot of soul searching by the congregation to come to this very sad decision."

The writing had been on the wall for some time for the landmark church as the roof has been leaking and is in urgent need of costly repairs - and just a few weeks ago the Black Country Radio team moved their studio, which was based in the church, to new premises at The Waterfront, Brierley Hill.

The station, which started out at 102.5 FM The Bridge, has been based at St John's since it first hit the airwaves in 2008 and the studio brought in a great deal of footfall to the church, turning it into something of a community hub after the then minister Rev Stuart Scott issued an appeal to the public in 2007 urging people and community groups to use or lose the building.

The Black Country Foodbank is also based in the ring road fronting church and distributes food to needy individuals and families on Tuesdays and Fridays between 10am and 12.30pm.

Rainbows and Guides also meet at the church which has also hosted music concerts and art exhibitions in a bid to invite the community in.

But there have been no weddings, funerals or christenings for some time - and the congregation has fallen to around just eight members in recent times.

Mr Syed said: "It has taken us a long time to work it out - but we just can't carry on. There's a hole in the roof - we need a lot of money to carry out repairs and people were beginning to leave one by one."

The church, which dates back to 1860, has also been without a minister since October when Reverend Stuart Scott left.

A decision on what will happen to St John's and its grounds is expected to be made in January by the United Reformed Church Trust which owns the building.

In the meantime - Foodbank will be open on its usual days, including tomorrow (Friday December 30).