A CASH-bagging quest to establish a new £1.7m church home for Newton Abbot Town Council has been launched.

A missive has been fired off to National Lottery Fund purse-string holders in the hope they will throw £800,000 into the mix to give new life to derelict St Leonards Church.

Anxious civic leaders face an agonising six-month wait to see whether their carefully worded begging letter hits the jackpot.