Tower of Coins 2009

THERE were pennies from heaven as primary school pupils helped cash in on a 2p tower that had been standing tall in a Slough church for the past two years. Youngsters from St Mary's Church of England Primary School were invited along to nearby St Mary's Church to cont the cost of the pillar which had stood at over six feet high and weighed around 100kg. Years of penny-pinching by worshippers had help create the towering column, which was made up of 13,900 2p coins, with the money raised being used to help support missions in the Caribbean.

David Jewell, head verger at the church, said: "The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves, we finally brought the tower down after two years of work building it and they helped count the coins into bags worth £1. We managed to raise £278 from the tower which will now be used on missions in St Kitts."

The tower concept was originally dreamed up in 1993 by Richard Ferguson, the former rector of Slough, who wanted to use more imaginative ways of raising money.