A DALES church celebrating its harvest festival has sent more than £500 to a charity that supports farmers in Africa.

The Church of St Oswald, in Castle Bolton, celebrated with a service led by the Rev Sue Whitehouse.

Six-year-old Annabelle Spensley, along with her grandmother Anne Spensley, made the harvest bread, which this year had a new feature. The intricately baked loaf had the Castle Bolton Mouse-miss mouse round the base of the sheaf.

Mrs Spensley, who makes the bread for the biennial service, said: “Annabelle asked if she could help, so we made it together. It was quite intricate and she did really well.”

At the harvest supper held at Redmire Village Hall, 60 guests enjoyed a meal of coronation chicken followed by locally-grown apples in a crumble.

Proceeds from the evening will all be given to Save a Cow, a charity which supports farmers mainly in Africa by supplying them with stock, seed, bees and other forms of support in order to get started.

Robert Hall said: “The service and supper were both wonderful. As a result we are able to send at least £500 to Save a Cow.”