"YORK Minster is falling down" - that's a sentence sure to grab your attention.

And it is one uttered in this BBC report from 1967 reporting on the launch of a £2 million appeal to save the York landmark.

In the news report, first broadcast more than 50 years ago on April 7, 1967 (which you can view at the end of this article), the presenter reveals how £2 million is needed to stop the building from collapse.

Urgent repairs are needed to the central tower, known as the lantern tower, to prevent the Minster from falling down in the next 15 years.

Severe cracks had been detected in the foundations and in the arches of the adjoining crypt.

The then Dean of York, Alan Richardson, is interviewed in the film and says if "massive remedial action is taken without further delay the great building can be fully restored."

The plan was to keep the Minster open during remedial works.

Broadcast in black and white, the short film captures York in the late 60s, starting with the picture postcard view of the Minster from the city walls by York station and also shows people dressed in their Sunday best entering the Minster.

If you love old stories and photos of York be sure to join our nostalgia group on Facebook at Why We Love York - Memories.

The Yorkshire Evening Press also ran the story. 'York Minster in peril', screamed the headline on April 7, 1967, adding: “Central tower could fall after 15 years”.

The story that followed reported: "York Minster, the largest Gothic building in England, is on the move. The 197ft Central Tower has been given only a 15-year life – unless the foundations are improved.”

A two-year study of the cathedral’s stonework led by the Minster’s surveyor of the fabric, Bernard Feilden, had discovered terrifying evidence of just how fragile the great building was.

The central tower, which weighs about 25,000 tons, was slowly sinking under its own weight, twisting and cracking as it did so and putting huge strains on the rest of the building.

And in a press conference held at the Guildhall on April 7, the Earl of Scarborough – the Minster’s High Steward – launched a £2 million appeal to save the building.

The idea was to excavate a large hole beneath the cathedral, pump it full of concrete, then drive steel rods down through it to underpin the whole building.

The video of the Minster appeal is just one of many Yorkshire videos being released by the BBC and shared with Press readers.

You can view the news report of the York Minster appeal below: