A perilous zip-line from a church roof to the ground was set-up on Sunday...for teddy bears to take a ride.

As part of a £1.8 million fundraising project for major restoration work, Minster Abbey’s Reverend Tim Hall invited people to allow their cuddly toys to take a high-wire whizz.

More than 100 people paid £2 each to watch and take pictures of their Ruperts, Paddingtons and Winnies doing the unusual and inventive stunt.

Rev Hall said: “We had a whole queue of people waiting to send their bears down the zip-slide - 75 bears made the descent.

“They were checked by the nurse before they went and all the bears made it down successfully.”

The Bishop of Dover, Trevor Wilmott, came along for the day and after blessing the church sundial, took the important role of harnessing the teddies for their terrifying trip down.

Minster Abbey, Vicarage Road, was first established in 664AD and, as such, is one of the oldest places of continuous worship in the UK.

Rev Hall hopes to receive English Heritage lottery funding to complete the ambitious restoration project, which will see heating put in, new flooring, indoor toilets installed, and a number of other large alterations made.