St Mary the Virgin Church in Stansted helps visitors from Poland's oldest monastery

A team of factfinders from Poland's oldest monastery paid a visit to Stansted's St Mary the Virgin Church to find out how it engages volunteers to help with its conservation.

The team from the Benedictine abbey in Tyniec, a suburb of Krakow, visited four Churches Conservation Trust places of worship in September to aid setting up their own volunteer programme.

Lynda Dale, who looks after St Mary's – which, similarly to the Polish abbey, dates back almost 1,000 years – said: "They came to pick our brains about volunteers with a view to doing something similar at the abbey which they look after."

As the keyholder for St Mary's for the past 10 years and chair of its friends group, Lynda's role is to look after the church and encourage others, such as schools and theatre groups, to use it, thus contributing towards its upkeep.

"And we are always looking for volunteers to help me with events – whatever people can do is very welcome," she said.

Anyone keen to help can call Lynda on 07716 099474.