THE mission area leader of Aberconwy raised thousands of pounds by singing all 150 psalms in one day to raise money for a new boiler for a Llandudno church.

Revd Sam Erlandson completed the “Psalmathon”, accompanying himself on piano all the while, in roughly 11 hours at St Paul’s Church on Saturday (July 16).

An online fundraiser page has received almost £1,200 in donations, but including additional pledges, he hopes to have raised about £4,000 in total.

The church’s boiler was deemed unsafe last Christmas, and is expected to cost just shy of £20,000 to replace.

Revd Erlandson stopped only for breaks for lunch and dinner, and said his favourite was “Psalm 104 – it just talks about the beauty of creation, and of the world”.

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He added: “It was hard, but it was good.

“I finished at about 7.15pm. I started with morning prayer at 8am, and that included the first five psalms.

“Then I got up to about Psalm 145 at about 6.45pm, and then I finished with evening prayer, which included the last four psalms.

“I felt OK (afterwards), actually. I’ve been trained to sign professionally, so it didn’t affect my voice as much as some people thought it would.

“But my posture at the piano is actually quite bad – I don’t sit properly, so my back was hurting more than anything else!

“More money has come in since, so when we claim the Gift Aid, it’ll be about £4,000. One person donated £1,000 of that single-handedly.

“We were left a legacy of £5,000 from someone who passed away, and we have some money in reserve, so we’re clawing there, and are quite close now (to being able to afford a new boiler).

“We’ll get a grant or two, as well, I think, so that’ll help.”

You can still donate yourself by visiting: gofundme.com/f/tbp8vy-psalmathon.