Worshippers at a parish church have been left freezing cold and feeling abandoned.
The heating at Christ Church in Brampton broke down in March and a new £24,000 commercial boiler was installed.
But instead of that being the end of the heating problems it was just the start - and today the church is still feeling bitter.
The National Grid and energy supplier Utility Warehouse have, say the church officials, caused all the delays and they are angry and feel badly let down.
The plummeting temperatures has been matched by a rapid decline in the congregation- as young and old have found the Victorian church simply too cold to worship in.
The saga has dragged on for so long that eventually the Bishop of Sheffield gave permission for services to be switched to the church hall, but that has still not warmed things up.
The list of reasons for all the delays goes on and on - it started with a gas pipe being the wrong diameter, has included part of the pavement being dug up, the appropriate council approval for works not being obtained and a new gas meter being installed.
At one point church wardens Trevor Sherburn and Dave Sorby sat in the freezing church from 9am to 5pm for three days after being told by email that an engineer would be arriving, but no-one did.
Trevor, 67, says if all goes well the church should finally be heated and start to warm up next week, but says he is angry and disappointed by all the delays.
"The incompetence has been staggering and the way we have been messed around all these months has been unbelievable," he said.
"There is more activity in a body with rigor mortis then there has been with the National Grid and the Utility Warehouse."
A spokesman for Utility Warehouse said: "Mr Sherburn initially experienced long delays associated with work undertaken by National Grid; unfortunately we were not able to finish the installation of a new meter until this work had been completed.
"We are very sorry that our engineer went to the church hall instead of the church for the meter upgrade, and in missing the appointment added another six days to Mr Sherburn’s wait.
"After a call to Mr Sherburn from our Operations Director, we have waived the meter charge as well as applying a £20 credit to the church’s account, and we very much hope this goes some way to making up for the inconvenience."
