The Sun and Pluto are in alignment today, intensifying the need for emotional excitement and sponteneity. Keep things fluid today.

Cancer, Virgo and Scorpio, you may have a conversation or interaction that seems meaningless, though carries a heavier weight. Don’t brush over small talk.

Energy is high, so take this chance to connect with others. You have a gift to give and sharing is caring.

Ahead, you’ll find all star signs’ horoscopes for today: Tuesday May 26, 2026.

Like checking your horoscope every morning? You can now sign up to our free daily newsletter to get a personalised reading for your star sign delivered straight to your inbox.

To order your unique personal horoscope based on your time, date and place of birth, visit patrickarundell.com.

Aries

March 21 to April 20

One of astrology’s most transformational planetary influences is in play today. Your appetite for fast movement and decisive action may have been tempered of late by the steady hand of Saturn. Yet a conversation now can see you pivot in a new and exciting direction. This can be especially so around any group or community activities where you can come to the fore.

Head here for everything you need to know about being an Aries

Taurus

April 21 to May 21

As much as you value continuity and sticking with what works and is functional, at times it’s important to step back and review the big picture. Today, look into what the long-term benefits might be. Someone influential can be a moving force in this, sharing an insight, knowledge, or experience that gives you the chance to subtly shift your focus in a positive direction.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Taurus

Gemini

May 22 to June 21

Your communication is often witty, but your mind can switch subjects as rapidly as your focus. Yet today your words can carry just that much more authority, and people will find them harder to ignore. The deeper theme here is that you are going beyond immediate exchanges and being drawn into redefining who you are, but also your guiding philosophies.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Gemini

Cancer

June 22 to July 23

The tiny but influential Pluto may have its planetary status disputed by some, but its raw power and influence are undiminished. His link to the Sun, in the fleet-footed Gemini today, is a case in point. As a discreet conversation or some deeply personal realisations can help you to recognise an attitude or situation that you simply have to release, and quickly.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Cancer

Leo

July 24 to August 23

Different friends and connections have different roles in our lives. The ones you value highly is where you can direct your attentions today, and you may have a heart-to-heart. It could be intense, but even if it is, it can help you to cut through to the root of what you both bring to this situation, drawing you closer and leading to a more authentic and valuable bond.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Leo

Virgo

August 24 to September 23

Your gift for analysis is the stuff of astral lore, but today, this quality is super-powered, and particularly around your job. Not only can you penetrate right to the heart of any matter, but your ability to mix the details with how these can be applied can be so strong. You can apply this to managing your own affairs shrewdly, but it can show up most at work.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Virgo

Libra

September 24 to October 23

There is an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation around you at the moment, and some important influences have seen you gain confidence in recent days. However, whatever you do, it needs to spark your passion, and today’s Sun/Pluto tie can do precisely that. Don’t ponder, make bold moves, and even if some don’t work out, it will be exhilarating.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Libra

Scorpio

October 24 to November 22

For some years to come, your modern ruler, Pluto, is set to work his way through the very root of your solar horoscope, and this can see big changes afoot around where you live, who with and within family or close ties. Today, the Sun makes an intense connection to Pluto, and this can add even deeper perspectives to the process of change that is ongoing for you.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Scorpio

Sagittarius

November 23 to December 21

If you are feeling a powerful attraction to someone, this can get even more intense today, and the conversations you share can have a fated quality. However, if you have to work with someone you don’t align with, this energy can see you clearly marking out what you will or will not accept. Sound forceful? Well, perhaps, but really it is about firming up boundaries.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Sagittarius

Capricorn

December 22 to January 21

Your work ethic often shines through, Capricorn. What is less talked about is your talent for structuring ideas and applying them in a steadfast and productive way. So, although your efforts may not be showy and obvious, your thoroughness often sees you succeed. So, know that whatever you put in place now can bring solid rewards over time.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Capricorn

Aquarius

January 22 to February 19

Your personal magnetism will shine even brighter – especially if you’re invested in creative or self-expressive strands. As the feedback you’re getting increases, so can your sense that this is about destiny and a deeper purpose. Not feeling this? It’s possible that more mundane demands seem to be holding you back. Yet you may have more options than you realise.

Head here for everything you need to know about being an Aquarius

Pisces

February 20 to March 20

Some deep family or emotional influences may have given you so much. If some were less positive, liberator Uranus can see you want to break free in the years to come. Today gives you a powerful opportunity to review what is or was not helpful. Immediate action may not be needed, but evolving realisations can set the stage for you to act when you are ready.

Head here for everything you need to know about being a Pisces

Your daily Metro.co.uk horoscope is here every morning, seven days a week (yes, including weekends!). To check your forecast, head to our dedicated horoscopes page.

Head here for this week’s tarot horoscope reading, and see what the cards have in store for you!

Check out the tarot horoscope reading for the month of May here.

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Wes Streeting has likened tech companies to the tobacco industry, and medical leaders have compared the dangers of social media to smoking, as pressure grows on ministers to impose a ban for under-16s ahead of the closure of an online safety consultation.

The Government’s Growing Up In The Online World consultation, which floated measures such an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s, app curfews and limits on addictive features, closes at the end of Tuesday.

In his first intervention on the issue since he quit Government earlier this month, former health secretary Mr Streeting said: “Social media should be treated like tobacco – it’s extremely addictive, bad for our health, and Big Tech is borrowing the Big Tobacco playbook to avoid regulation.

“We’ve got to give our children their childhood back.

“A ban for under-16s must be the start, not the end.

“We have given the pen to tech moguls to write our future for us.

“It’s time to take the pen back.”

Meanwhile, a report by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges submitted to the public consultation said social media and smartphone use “ranks alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts in cars as a unifying force for the medical profession”.

Doctors are seeing a “wave of radicalised children” from exposure to “hateful, addictive and grossly distressing content”, the report said.

Of the 454 doctors surveyed by the academy of 22 member royal colleges, half said they treated at least one child a week whose mental distress or physical injury was linked to online content.

The report included harrowing stories of deaths and injuries from “replicating acts of extreme pornography” and interests in violence or radicalisation.

Families who have lost relatives to harm linked to online platforms are set to meet Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday and urge him to honour the Government’s promise to impose social media restrictions on under-16s.

There have been widespread calls for the UK to follow Australia’s lead on a prohibition, although there have been questions about how effective it has been.

Ministers announced in April they would introduce “age or functionality restrictions” on social media for under-16s regardless of the consultation outcome, with proposals to be unveiled by the summer and plans to legislate before the end of the year.

The concession by the Government came after pressure from the House of Lords over the issue, led by Tory former education minister and academy chain founder Lord Nash.

Peers voted four times to press the Commons into accepting an outright ban, ending their stand-off with MPs only after ministers agreed to restrictions.

Lord Nash said: “The Government gave a commitment to Parliament that they would introduce some form of age or functionality restriction on social media for children under 16.

“We now expect them to deliver on that commitment fully and in the shortest possible timeframe.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have made their voices heard, asking the Government to raise the age for access to harmful social media to 16….

“And today the Prime Minister will meet the bereaved parents who have campaigned tirelessly to prevent their experiences happening to anyone else.

“Please, just get on with it.”

Ellen Roome, who believes her son Jools Sweeney died aged 14 while attempting an online challenge, said: “I, and other families who have lost children to social media, will tell the Prime Minister directly: Social media is a product, and like any other faulty product causing the deaths of children, it should be restricted until the companies responsible have fixed it and proven it is safe.

“We cannot go on with further speculation – we need clarity.”

But another coalition of children’s organisations warned that focusing solely on age limits risked failing to address the structural drivers of online harms.

The Children’s Coalition for Online Safety, led by 5Rights Foundation and including groups such as the NSPCC and Girlguiding, demanded a broader overhaul of technology companies’ business models and product design choices that keep young users hooked.

In a joint statement, 25 organisations called for a ban on targeted advertising and manipulative design features; a ban on personalised services for under 13s and default safety protections for under-16s with penalties for firms that fall short; stronger regulation of AI systems including child-focused risk assessments; and the creation of an independent online safety commissioner.

Leanda Barrington-Leach, executive director at 5Rights Foundation, said: “We will not fix this by tinkering around the edges – by tweaking features or relying on age limits alone.

“The issue is not a single product or setting; it is built into the system itself, into business models and design choices that prioritise engagement, data extraction and profit over children’s wellbeing.

“If a product were unsafe for children offline, it would not be allowed onto the market. We must insist on this same logic online.

“The onus must be on these businesses to demonstrate that their services are safe for children and not on parents or children to navigate or manage that risk themselves.”

The NSPCC charity said tech companies prioritising profit over keeping children safe “cannot be allowed to continue”.

Rani Govender, associate head of policy for child, said politicians must set out a path “requiring platforms to build safety into every device, feature and AI tool from the outset, preventing children from encountering harmful or illegal content and ensuring they can only access age‑appropriate services through risk-based age ratings – something that children and adults are telling us they strongly support.

“It also means ending the addictive design tricks that keep young users scrolling, gaming and watching for hours on end.”

A Government spokesperson said: “Everyone – especially children and young people – should be able to have a positive, safe experience online.

“That’s why we are consulting on a wide range of measures, from restricting social media access to potential app curfews, to ensure we get the balance right and protect young people from harm.

“We are still seeking views from parents, young people and experts before taking our next steps. More than 70,000 people have already engaged, and there is still time for others to share their views before the consultation closes at midnight.

“We are also taking wider action to tackle online harm. Through the Online Safety Act, platforms have to give users more control over the content they see and stronger protections from harmful material.”

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Every time Vanny Birungi, a volunteer with the Red Cross in eastern Congo, goes out to raise awareness about the latest Ebola outbreak as suspected cases near 1,000, she faces a double threat.

One is the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola, with no vaccine or treatment. The other is the anger and suspicion of residents who have pelted her with stones and verbal abuse in Bunia, a city at the heart of the outbreak.

“We continue to tell them that the disease is out there. Some accept, and others don’t,” Birungi told The Associated Press on Monday as she and colleagues spoke with groups of people in a working-class neighborhood under the scorching sun.

Aid workers are especially at risk in this volatile region where residents, like Birungi, have long been under threat of armed groups that have killed thousands of people and displaced many more in recent years.

Trust is hard to find among the traumatized population that is wary of outsiders, even those trying desperately to contain the rapidly spreading outbreak that experts say was discovered weeks late. Surveillance for such diseases has been weakened by U.S. and other aid cuts.

“These people should stop bothering us. They just want to get rich. Let’s not forget that Ebola is a white man’s invention,” declared Pierre Basola, a 56-year-old resident of Bunia, who added: “Stop talking to me anyway.”

Cases are nearing 1,000 but health centers are burned

Three times in the past week, healthcare facilities have been attacked. On Sunday, angry young men stormed a hospital treating Ebola patients, forcing medical staff to evacuate them as gunfire rang out.

On Saturday, a group of residents set fire to a tent for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases run by Doctors Without Borders in Mongbwalu, and more than a dozen people suspected to have the virus fled. On Thursday, a center in Rwampara was burned after relatives were barred from retrieving the body of a man suspected to have Ebola.

Anger is amplified as virus prevention practices keep loved ones from handling bodies in final rites following an illness some have described as sudden and dramatic, with vomiting and bleeding.

The Ebola virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit. Experts say healthcare workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.

“Trust is almost as important as the health response, because if you get this massive distrust in the communities, they’re not going to go to the health centers,” said Heather Kerr, country director for the International Rescue Committee in Congo.

Armed conflict in the region poses another challenge. To travel from Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, to Mongbwalu, aid groups risk potential attacks in a region more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.

Meanwhile, the outbreak now has over 900 suspected cases and more than 220 suspected deaths, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Monday.

“We are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic,” he said.

‘We leave everything to God’

Mado Nditamba, a 70-year-old Bunia resident, said she has seen students running away from aid workers.

“The last time Ebola came, it was not on the scale that we see today,” Nditamba said. “But this epidemic today is worse. We go to the doctors in the hospitals, but they also die. That’s what worries us. We don’t know what to do and we leave everything to God.”

Congo has had 17 Ebola outbreaks, and the WHO says the country is equipped to respond. But early tests in this outbreak were conducted for a more common type of Ebola, losing valuable time. Experts are still trying to determine when this outbreak began.

There are few places to test for this Bundibugyo type in a region where clinics can run on generators and a major airport serving as a humanitarian hub has been in the hands of rebels for over a year.

Health workers on the ground have told the AP they are underprepared and underprotected. Now an unknown number of responders have been infected, and some have died.

A Congolese doctor was reported dead on Sunday in Rwampara, Rubens Dhedgia, coordinator of the Ebola response in the region, told the AP. In neighboring Uganda, where a far smaller number of cases has begun to spread after Congolese traveled there, at least three health workers have been infected.

And perhaps most worryingly, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says three volunteers died in Mongbwalu after it believes they handled bodies on March 27 during work unrelated to Ebola.

If confirmed, that would significantly push back the timeline of the outbreak from the first confirmed death in late April in Bunia.

Some residents still believe Ebola is a myth

Even as at least one funeral home manager dusted off coffins for sale alongside a road in Bunia, experts reported a lack of trust among some residents of the region who do not believe the virus exists.

Action Aid, another of the international humanitarian groups responding, said a high level of skepticism and lack of understanding remains, citing residents it questioned in mid-May in Ituri province just after the outbreak was announced.

“The only way to go, as far as this particular virus is concerned, is community engagement,” said Yakubu Mohammed Saani, country director for Action Aid in Congo.

How that will be improved, and quickly, is still not clear. Meanwhile, both the WHO and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe the outbreak is larger than the cases reported so far.

___

Adetayo reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed.

But while the styling, efficiency and pricing have all moved on, this still feels more like a careful facelift than a ground-up rethink.

Already a global success story, the Model Y made history in 2023 by becoming the world’s best-selling car across all fuel types. The latest round of changes focuses on everyday practicality and affordability, tightening up the package rather than relaunching it, and keeping the core ingredients that have defined Tesla’s appeal.

In the UK, the Rear-Wheel Drive now opens the range at £41,990, or from £299 per month on PCP, making it the most affordable Model Y to date. That lower price point is key in an EV market where rivals are multiplying quickly – but Tesla has been careful not to strip away the features that matter in day-to-day use.

The sharper-looking Tesla Model Y (Image: Newsquest)

Outside, you’ll spot the facelift in the new front and rear treatments and revised detailing, which give the car a subtly cleaner, more modern look and help distinguish it from the pricier Premium and Performance versions. Tesla says these changes are not just cosmetic: the revised aero, together with other tweaks, make this the most efficient Model Y yet, with claimed consumption of 21.8kWh/100 miles and a WLTP range of up to 314 miles.

On the road, though, it doesn’t feel like a transformative new chapter. The basic driving experience will be familiar to anyone who has spent time in an earlier Model Y. The car still has that instant EV response and easy one-pedal driving, but the ride and refinement feel broadly in the same ballpark as before.

Tesla has also deliberately reined in outright performance for the UK market, with a reduced top speed and softer acceleration tuning aimed at securing the lowest insurance group yet for a Model Y. That makes sense for company car users and family buyers, and in everyday driving the car still feels brisk enough, even if this isn’t a Tesla you’d buy for fireworks.

The UK specification is tailored in other ways, too: 19‑inch Crossflow wheels are standard here, rather than the smaller rims you’ll find in some other markets. They suit the car visually, but you do sense them on poorer surfaces.

The sharper-looking Tesla Model Y (Image: Newsquest)

Inside, the cabin sticks closely to the familiar Tesla template – and that’s no bad thing. A 16‑inch QHD central touchscreen remains the command centre for almost every function, and the overall look is clean and minimalist. The facelift brings new dual‑tone textile and vegan leather finishes, softer-touch materials and revised seats designed to work in all weathers. Heated front seats and a closed glass roof are standard, helping the interior feel airy despite the pared-back design.

Practicality is still one of the Model Y’s biggest trump cards. There’s up to 835 litres of boot space with all five seats in use, expanding to 2,118 litres with the rear row folded, and plenty of additional storage in the cabin and beneath the boot floor. It’s an easy car to live with if you’re hauling kids, luggage, camping kit or bikes.

Technology remains at the heart of the experience. As with other Teslas, you get over‑the‑air software updates that can add features and refine existing systems throughout the car’s life. Recent updates include Grok, a built‑in AI voice assistant, and the usual array of entertainment options via Tesla Theatre and Arcade. Trip Planner integrates charging stops automatically, showing real‑time Supercharger availability so long journeys demand very little pre‑planning.

The interior of the Tesla Model Y (Image: Newsquest)

The Supercharger network – more than 2,100 units in the UK and Ireland and over 75,000 worldwide – offers 250kW peak charging and impressive 99.5 per cent uptime. In real terms, you’re looking at adding around 170‑odd miles of range in roughly a quarter of an hour

Above this entry-level Rear‑Wheel Drive, the UK line‑up includes Premium Long Range Rear‑Wheel Drive, Premium Long Range All‑Wheel Drive and the range‑topping Performance. For many buyers, though, this facelifted RWD will be the sweet spot.

The Lowdown

Tesla Model Y RWD

MODEL TYPE: Mid-size electric SUV

DRIVETRAIN: Single motor, rear-wheel drive

BATTERY: Approx. 60 kWh usable

POWER / TORQUE: Around 220–230 kW (295–308 bhp equivalent)

0-62MPH: Circa 6.5–7.0 seconds (UK spec slightly softened for insurance)

WLTP range: Up to 314 miles

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Voters in Texas will see little of the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate on Monday. But that’s only if they stay away from screens.

There were no public campaign events scheduled for Sen. John Cornyn nor state Attorney General Ken Paxton on the final day of their more than yearlong quest for the GOP nomination. Instead, their fight for Tuesday’s runoff continues as it has for months — intense and unabated — through advertising that has topped $109 million, heavily from Cornyn’s side.

Cornyn is scheduled to host an annual, non-campaign event in San Antonio to recognize high school graduates attending the nation’s service academies. The senator seeking a fifth term held his last public campaign event in Corpus Christi on Friday, ahead of Tuesday’s voting.

Paxton headlined his last events Thursday in the Austin area and in San Antonio, content to let his campaign and a super PAC carry his primary message: that President Donald Trump endorsed him on May 19.

Trump’s announcement and accompanying dismissal of Cornyn, who has had an awkward public relationship with the president, came on the second day of early voting, which ended Friday.

Though the candidates were quiet over the weekend, Trump reaffirmed his support for Paxton on Sunday, and disparaged Cornyn as insufficiently loyal to him.

Paxton, Trump posted on social media, “was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME,” while calling Cornyn “VERY disloyal to me.” It was Trump’s strongest rebuke of Cornyn, who had dismissed his 2024 comeback chances, and echoed the president’s reproach of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy before he lost in the May 15 GOP Senate primary.

After Trump’s jabs, Cornyn still leaned into his support for the president just before Monday’s event. The senator said that 99.3% of his votes aligned with Trump, that he “wants him to be successful” and then he referenced Trump’s previous comments “where he called me a good man and a friend.”

As for endorsing his opponent, “obviously the president is entitled to make his pick,” he said, but “Texans are a pretty independent breed and people will be making their own choices.”

Following Trump’s call for retribution, Republican voters in Indiana and Kentucky have also chosen GOP primary challengers over incumbent GOP officeholders who have crossed the president or opposed his agenda.

For a contest that is expected to draw a fraction of Texas’ 18.7 million voters, the two candidates’ campaigns and supporting groups were continuing to bombard all Texans with advertising, though more by Cornyn’s backers than Paxton’s.

“It’s just a slug fest, with the campaigns and third-party groups slugging it out,” said Wayne Hamilton, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party.

The combination of Cornyn’s campaign and supporting super PACs has far outspent pro-Paxton groups over the past year, by almost nine-to-one. But the gap has shrunk as the runoff has approached. In the final week of the campaign, the combination of pro-Cornyn ad spending was less than twice that of Paxton’s group.

Cornyn’s network continued to air spots attacking Paxton over ethical and personal questions that have shadowed him with little effect throughout the campaign. The senator’s consequent argument to voters is that Paxton would struggle in the general election and threaten to flip the seat blue.

“Paxton’s flaws and the baggage he brings to the general election is going to be exploited to the fullest by James Talarico,” he told reporters, before heading into Monday’s ceremony and giving a speech devoid of campaign politics to the assembled graduates.

Cornyn’s campaign also had reprised an ad noting his tendency to vote in the Senate for Trump’s priorities.

Paxton’s campaign and groups supporting him transitioned midweek to all ads noting Trump’s endorsement, though Paxton’s primary super PAC, Lone Star Liberty Fund, began airing one over the weekend aimed at raising questions about state Rep. James Talarico, the Texas Democratic Senate nominee.

The Blue Flag and Seaside Awards have been announced for 2026 ahead of the summertime.

All of the beaches across England that have been given Blue Flag status for 2026 have been announced. Keep Britain Tidy reveals which beaches have Blue Flag status every May in time for the summer holidays to help people choose “clean, safe, and well-managed beaches” to visit.

A beach is judged on whether it should have Blue Flag status through four areas: environmental management, safety and services, cleanliness, and environmental education. 63 sites across England have “met the high standards required”.

The Seaside Awards have also been revealed with 106 sites being given the award after being judged on their cleanliness, safety, and management. The Seaside Award “recognises fantastic coastal spots” that might not be a “traditional bathing beach”.

Many of the beaches given Blue Flag or Seaside Awards are in Norfolk or Suffolk, which are easy to reach from Cambridgeshire. If you are planning to take your family on a trip to the seaside, you might want to pick one of these places.

All of the Norfolk and Suffolk beaches with Blue Flag status:

• Cromer;
• West Runton;
• Southwold;
• Sheringham;
• Sea Palling;
• Mundesley;
• Felixstowe;
• East Runton.

All of the Norfolk and Suffolk beaches given a Seaside Award:

• Felixstowe;
• Hunstanton Main;
• Kessingland Beach;
• Lowestoft beach;
• Southwold.

Terrorism and spy cases tried by the UK’s top magistrate will be televised for the first time.

The sentencing remarks of the country’s chief magistrate – who hears high-profile lawsuits such as terrorism and extradition cases – will be broadcast live.

Controversial judicial reviews challenging the government and local authorities will also be shown on TV.

The major expansion of courtroom cameras is part of a drive to boost transparency and improve diversity within the judiciary, the Telegraph reports.

The current chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, sits at Westminster magistrates’ court and has heard some of the most talked-about lawsuits of the day.

This includes the not guilty verdict on Tommy Robinson, the far-Right activist, after he refused to give police access to his phone in July 2024.

Now his sentencing remarks will be televised when the media applies for those cases to be broadcast in the public interest.

Justice Secretary David Lammy hopes the initiative will ‘deliver more transparent justice, by expanding broadcasting and bringing the work of our justice system closer to the public than ever before’.

Cameras have already been allowed into the Supreme Court since 2009, the Court of Appeal from 2013 and for major criminal trials in the Crown Court since 2022.

More than 30 cases were beamed into nation’s living rooms in the first 12 months after Crown Court sentencing was broadcast in July 2022.

Baroness Carr, the Lady Chief Justice, and Lammy also want to increase diversity among the predominantly white, male judiciary. Nearly half, 44 per cent, of judges are now women.

The pair co-chaired the first meeting of a new diversity board last week that is working to make the legal profession reflect ‘modern Britain’.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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A workman had climbed the spire to assess the structure and found several loose stones – stones that were a very present danger to anyone below.

They were told the building had to be abandoned immediately.Paul’s

St Paul’s Church building (Image: Dan Dougherty)

“We had our service on Tuesday, and we were out before Sunday,” said Susan Pilkington, the current lay reader for the church and its main organiser.

“It’s sad, but it’s too expensive – the repairs could cost over £1m.

“And even if we got it sorted tomorrow, we still wouldn’t be able to afford to run it.

“It’s up to the diocese now.”

The large building of St Paul’s church was built in 1847-8 and consecrated by the first Bishop of Manchester, James Prince Lee.

Part of the churchyard is fenced off (Image: Dan Dougherty)

The spire is one of Astley Bridge’s most noticeable monuments, towering over the nearby buildings so that it is visible from the nearby Blackburn Road.

But the famous spire is now one of the building’s biggest problems, with the front part of the churchyard now barricaded off due to the danger of collapse.

“It’s a very nice building, but if you can’t afford to run it anymore, what do you do?” said Susan.

“It wasn’t just the spire. All the internals needed redoing – the plaster, the electricals.”

The children of St Paul’s School made a cross for the church (Image: Dan Dougherty)

In fact, the church group had already voted to leave the church in 2024 due to its various problems – the issue with the spire only expedited the process.

The church moved into St Paul’s School directly over the road. They use the assembly room for their services, and host meetings and groups in the community room.

A church is not its building; a church is a community. Judged this way, St Paul’s, Astley Bridge, is stronger now than it has been in years.

(Image: Dan Dougherty)

“The people have come together enormously,” said Susan.

“It’s brought everybody together, and the feeling across the whole community is tremendous.

“The kids from the school drop in to see us, the staff come in. We work together, do assemblies, and events.

“The relationship we have with the children is amazing – we’re working closely with them on their June summer fair.”

The physical church’s closing down seemed to galvanise a community that, until that point, had seemed less and less keen to attend church. Only when faced with its potential loss did the community realise how much it meant to them.

St Paul’s attendance is now up from what it was when the church was still open, with older members, families, and children all worshipping together.

The famous spire that causes concern (Image: Dan Dougherty)

And holding services in the school rather than the church building has its own set of advantages.

“It’s good in the winter because you don’t have to wear six layers to come in for the Sunday service!” said Susan.

The church also lost its vicar last year, who stepped down from their role. Susan now does all the services herself. She’s licenced to do so, as a lay reader.

The church formerly held two Sunday services, a more traditional one at 9am, usually attended by the older folk, and another family-oriented one at 10.45am.

The community has rallied (Image: NQ)

But now, these services have been condensed into one. The results have been interesting.

“You have 80-year-old guys there doing action dances with the kids,” Susan told me.

“We would never have thought that that would have happened. Everybody really joins in. Everybody.

“It’s really tremendous.”

The church has grown so much since last year that they are now facing another issue: where once they were thinking of downsizing, they might now be forced to upsize.

“We had so many people here for the Easter service that we could just barely fit everyone in,” Susan said.

(Image: Dan Dougherty)

“And Christmas was very busy as well.

“Our ideal situation would be that we could get a plot of land in Astley Bridge and build something new, though the land would have to be in Astley Bridge.”

One member who attends is Astley Bridge councillor Toby Hewitt.

Cllr Hewitt said: “I love to see the church has remained open.

(Image: Dan Dougherty)

“They have a really great set of people who want to do the right thing for the local community.

“The building is with the diocese, but there’s a process they have to follow, but it would be good if it could stay open as a place of worship.”

But despite the struggles with the building, St Paul’s church itself has never been stronger.

“I do enjoy it,” said Susan.

“Without the support of everyone around me, my job would be impossible.

(Image: Dan Dougherty)

“It’s difficult to keep everything going, but it’s such a privilege to be able to do this.”

Regarding the building itself, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Manchester said: “The church building at St Paul’s Astley Bridge remains closed and is currently subject to a statutory consultation process.

“As we are continuing to receive and respond to submissions to the consultation, we are not yet able to provide a timeline for when a decision will be made.”