A VILLAGE church with close links to a Scot who died in Auschwitz has re-opened after a major refurbishment.

Nearly 200 people attended a re-dedication service at Dunscore Church near Dumfries.

The project took three years to complete after water damage was discovered around the tower, roof and walls in 2013.

A heritage centre has also been opened following the refurbishment. It celebrates the life of Church of Scotland missionary Jane Haining, who grew up in the village.

She was arrested by the Nazis in 1944 for harbouring Jewish girls at the Scottish Mission School in Budapest, Hungary. The 47-year-old was eventually taken to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland where she died.

A memorial cairn for Haining, who was the matron at the boarding school between 1932-44 and looked after Christian and Jewish girls, stands near the church.

Photographs, a video, letters, a copy of Haining’s handwritten last will and testament and her Hero of the Holocaust medal are among the items on display at the centre.

The exhibition also focuses on the history of the A-listed church building which dates back to 1823.