TWO community groups have started petitions to try and save an historic Stourbridge church which has been put up for sale.

St John’s United Reformed Church, which fronts Stourbridge Ring Road/St John’s Road, has been standing empty since the start of the year after the minister left, the dwindling congregation disbanded and community groups moved out.

It has now been put on the market by property company Bulleys which has invited offers over £50,000 for the grade II listed building.

The landmark church, which dates back to 1860, however, has a place in the hearts of many in the community - particularly musician Chris Passey, of Gig Caritas which has used the building as a concert venue for the last six years.

Mr Passey’s parents and grandparents also married at the church and, although it is in need of urgent repairs to its leaking roof, he has now launched a petition to try and save it from being sold to a developer for conversion into flats or a private home.

He said: "I'm gathering support for a community enterprise hub with a view to purchasing the building for the community."

Meanwhile - Halesowen-based dance and circus school Danse Vivante has also expressed a desire to buy the building to host acrobatic, aerial silk and dance classes.

Dance school principal Rebecca Howard, who has also launched an online petition in a bid to save the building from the clutches of developers, said: "We we want to buy it to host our own classes and share it with others.

"We would like to use the church to house classes that require bigger equipment such as flying trapeze. These would be the only flying trapeze classes this side of England.

"In addition to using the open space for our own classes, we would like to open it up for other groups and hobbies as well."

She said the group would not need to seek any funding as it generates its own finances and she added: "We already have our own funding to purchase it. We just need community backing. Too many churches are lost to property developers, let's not see St John's go the same way."

The petitions can be found by clicking on the following links - www.change.org and www.ipetitions.com.