A rare organ in North Tyneside has been fully restored as part of a major project to make its church a community hub.

The instrument at St John's, Killingworth, is the only one in the UK to hold Grade II star status from the British Institute of Organ Studies. It is one of 166 built by Richard Postill of York, with another notable example at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Today, just ten of his instruments remain.

Having fallen into disrepair, the organ had dirty pipes held together with gaffer tape, and a missing middle D, temporarily restored with a bent paper clip.

Major renovations have now been completed, funded in part by the church's organist, Nigel Brown, who cycled 1,490 miles across England and Scotland visiting churches with Postill organs, to raise money.

Reflecting on the work, he said: “The restorers have done a wonderful job. They had to completely dismantle it and they’ve returned all the woodwork to how it would have looked in Victorian times.”

As well as the organ’s revival,  St John’s has been able to install a new kitchen, toilets, and meeting spaces.

“We want this beautiful building to be used by the community every single day,” vicar, the Revd Sarah Moon told BBC Newcastle. “This is part of a modernisation which began six years ago in a church with no water, built to be heated by coal, to bring it into the 21st Century.”