SCALING bell towers, smoking in the organ loft and riding scooters through the aisles.

That's the type of behaviour that has forced the historic St Mark's Anglican Church to shut the doors when staff aren't around.

It's a sad state of affairs for the church, which would rather be focusing on their upcoming 150-year anniversary as opposed to reckless actions by antisocial teenagers.

Father Rod Winterton was disappointed the situation has got to a stage where police must be called for future incidents.

"We've tried pulling them aside and having a chat but they don't have any respect for authority, even the police," Fr Winterton said.

"I've let the police know and their response is to give them a call if we see them around.

"If they get a warning from police, hopefully they'll decide that it's easier to stop doing it."

The problem has been going on for close to a month and Fr Winterton said their actions were not only putting the church in danger but also themselves.

"For about the last four weeks we've had pretty much the same group of young people, consisting of four young guys and two girls, coming into the church," he said.

"During our renovations, we had them climbing to the top of the bell tower, which is both dangerous for being up that high and they left all the trap doors open, which wasn't good.

"They've also been getting up into the organ loft and smoking and riding their scooters throughout the church."

The church turns 150 next year and Fr Winterton commented on the need to protect the valuable and sentimental property inside.

"We do have some valuable things inside the building and the risk of fire if they're smoking in the church has meant that unless one of us is around, we've really had to keep the doors closed," he said.

"The place is irreplaceable. If it were to catch fire because of smoking, that would be all of our history down the drain.

"The church has a tradition of always keeping the doors open for people.

"I'd like to apologise to the people used to having access to the church that it's got to the stage where we've had to restrict access."