Bride-to-be protests church closing

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MAERDY, Wales, July 9 (UPI) -- A Welsh bride-to-be who hoped to be the fourth generation of her family married in her village church was joined in a sit-in against its closing by 50 friends.

Emily Morton had planned to be married to Aaron Jones Sept. 17 in All Saints Church in Maerdy, an old coal-mining village in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales. When the church's last service ended Sunday, the 21-year-old stayed inside, The Sun reported.

A rotating group has been participating in the protest with at least four sleeping in the church every night. A local fish-and-chips shop sends dinner over.

One of Morton's supporters is her grandmother, Celia Murphy, who was married in All Saints in 1969, 46 years after her mother walked down the aisle there. Morton's mother was also an All Saints bride.

"I'd planned to walk to the ceremony in my wedding dress like mum and gran had done before me," Morton told the Daily Mirror. "I burst into tears thinking that's never going to happen."

Church officials say the 126-year-old building needs expensive reconstruction and the money is not there. The site is to be sold for development.