Next month the parish church of St Teilo's at Llanarth will hold its last service.

With its small and elderly congregation it has been decided that it simply isn't viable to embark on a fund-raising effort for essential maintenance and repairs - likely to run to £500,000.

The decision to close the church rather than seek finance from sources like the Heritage Lottery Fund has saddened Mrs Elsie Harris of Rhiw Las, now in her 86th year, who has been attending the church since she was a little girl.

"I was Christened there, went to Sunday School there, was confirmed there and married there," she said.

"My late husband, John Francis, and I have both been church wardens."

Mrs Harris accepts that 'just to open the church doors the electricity is costing more than we are taking on the plate'.

"But it's particularly sad for me and my family as my husband is buried in the churchyard and I was hoping that when the time came I would be buried alongside him," she said.

Her main concern now is what the diocese will do with the church.

"The vicar has said that if it is sold the new owners will keep the churchyard open to the public - but I know of a local chapel which was sold privately and that hasn't been the case there.

"It's quite a big church, with eight bells - but we're only a very small congregation and all of us are elderly.

"In the past we've always managed to raise money by having fund-raising 'dos'. We had a wonderful flower festival there in 2005 which raised more than £3,700.

"But with members of the congregation in poor health, it hasn't been possible to organise any events in the last few years.

"It's hard to keep the church clean too. Godfrey Watkins was the last people's warden. He kept the churchyard looking beautiful. But he's in his eighties now. There just aren't enough young people to keep it going."

She added, "I think it's important to publicise the last service on July 18 so that people who used to live in the area or who have relatives buried in the churchyard can come along."

St Teilo's is part of the group parish within the deanery of Abergavenny which also includes St Cadoc's at The Bryn, St Bridget's at Llansantffraed and St David's at Llandewi Rhydderch.

The Rev'd John Humphries took over as Priest in Charge just over 12 months ago.

He describes St Teilo's as a medieval church that was 'knocked about a bit by Cromwell then badly restored by the Victorians in their attempts to make parish churches like cathedrals'.

"We had a meeting with the diocesan authorities about running St Teilo's as a community centre alongside church services but then problems were spotted with the roof.

"The quinquennial inspection was brought forward and showed the full extent of the damage.

"While it is not in a dangerous state at the moment it will become so. It's very difficult in these tough economic times to find grants for this kind of work.

"We have been completely transparent and honest about the situation. If we could have given St Teilo's a dual purpose, as first intended, we would have. But spending £500,000 and ending up with the same building without any additional amenities simply wasn't an option."

"I called a public meeting to say 'this is a problem, unless you have any other ideas the church will have to close'. To put it bluntly: use it or lose it.

"About thirty people attended, mostly from the other churches. Nobody was able to put forward any viable alternatives.

"I feel very sad about its closure myself and so do people from the other churches - but we have to face reality.

"The attendance figures for the fortnightly services are false because people from other parishes are worshipping there. There may be twenty people in the church but only five are from Llanarth.

"We haven't even been able to find anyone in Llanarth to form a parochial church council."

From July 18 responsibility for St Teilo's will be vested in the Representative Body of the Church in Wales.

"I have a responsibility to keep the church open as long as I can without running up debts.

"I chose July for our last service so that we can pay our bills up to date and won't owe anything to anyone."

He says the church's last service will be like a funeral service 'because people need to grieve'. But he insists that it is not all doom and gloom.

"People are worried about keeping their own churches open but, with the closure of Llanarth, the future prospects for the other three churches will increase."

He added that as long as St Teilo's has an open churchyard the Church in Wales will continue to have responsibility for it.

"St Teilo's will be kept in as good a condition as the Church in Wales can afford," he said.

And he pointed out that some redundant churches in the past have been reopened.

"In religious terms, we are Easter people and Hallelujah is our song. Where there is death, there is hope in the resurrection."