St George’s Church in Douglas has launched a project to educate the public on its history.

A permanent fixture of storyboards with text and photographs has been installed in the churchyard which tell the stories of the people buried there.

This includes information about the founder of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (William Hillary), a nurse who lived during the 1800s cholera outbreak (Nellie Brennan) and tales of philanthropists.

The boards are designed to be read by all ages.

The parish of St George and All Saints is said to ’boast a proud and rich heritage in its church building’ and so lay members decided to launch a project to share the stories with the community in an ’accessible and exciting way’.

The Archdeacon and the Social Committee will launch the event on Saturday, July 17.

A ’Saints and Sinners’ tour will take in stories from the trail and include a tour of the bell tower in the church.

This was done in collaboration with Manx National Heritage and the trustees of the Donald Collister Heritage Fund.

Archdeacon and Vicar of St George’s, Venerable Andie Brown, said: ’We have delighted many folk with the tales of the unexpected right here.

Having this project come to fruition is a huge asset to St George’s with a large civic presence, and allows us to share the stories with so many more, whether you have ten minutes or an hour to spare to walk around.

’I am grateful to all those involved in the project for their vision and hard work which has brought the idea, and the stories to life.’

He is hoping the installation will be a ’great resource’ and put St George’s ’on the map as a place of interest’.

The storyboard trail will publicly launch on July 17 at 2:30pm and the ’Saints and Sinners’ tours will be available up to 4:30pm that day.

The church says that donations are welcome.