THEY say a stitch in time saves nine.

But children at St Sampson's school, in Cricklade, have been helping to sew nearly 90,000 stitches on three new kneelers for St Sampson's church.

All 240 pupils at the school are being invited to help by sewing a small patch on the 6.5m long kneelers.

Anne Garnett, who is a member of the church group, was helping the children get started.

"We are trying to get them all involved," she said.

"And they all seemed to enjoy taking part. The church group felt we needed to do something for the church so we decided to make the kneelers as replacements for some already in the church."

The community project has been funded by the town council.

Two of the kneelers, which have been designed by Helen Tyrrell, feature images reflecting the church's stained glass windows and the third is an image of Noah's Ark.