AFTER being closed for most of the year, an Island church has reopened with a new look.

The hillside church of St Mary the Virgin in Brook celebrated during a ceremony on Tuesday (October 20).

As part of the service, the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Christopher Foster,  blessed and celebrated the completion of a major outdoor volunteer project in the historic churchyard.

Through the work of several groups of volunteers, a heavily overgrown strip of land had been cleared and enclosed with reclaimed iron fencing and a newly planted hedge.

On Tuesday it was consecrated by Bishop Christopher as a burial ground and also becomes the focus of a spectacular new circular walk overlooking Tennyson Down and the Channel and taking in the whole of the ancient churchyard.

Bishop Christopher paid special tribute to the Lewis family for their generous gift of the land to add to the churchyard

Special thanks was also paid to the Island Roads CSR programme volunteers for clearing the site in September last year.