Ambitious Church plans welcomed

Plans to create a fully-equipped community centre at St Andrew's Church, Dearnley, Littleborough would stand the Church in good stead and provide first-class facilities for use by future generations, said Councillor Ashley Dearnley at the launch of the scheme on Friday (1 October 2010) night.

Councillor Dearnley, Deputy Leader of Rochdale Council and an active Church member, said St Andrew's was already on the Council radar for its community work - and there was no better time for the Church to launch its £150,000 Wider Welcome project.

"When a church closes down a lot of people regret it," he said, "But here at St Andrew's we are demonstrating the foresight to build for the future so that the church has a community facility for many years to come."

Local MP Simon Danczuk, attended the launch to offer his "100 per cent" support, said that architecturally the church was a superb building.

It was essential, said the vicar, the Rev Sharon Jones, that the church was part of the community.

She said: "The last thing we want is to have a church that is open for prayer on Sundays and then closed for the rest of the week.

"We are trying to create something for everyone and attempting to open up church facilities to people who might otherwise feel out of place there."

Long-serving church member Stuart Carmichael, the clerk of works, explained that Wider Welcome was part of ongoing development that had started 30 years ago with the creation of the parish room at the back of church.

More recently, the kitchen had been upgraded and refurbished and exterior work had taken place to provide easy and safe access for the disabled and the elderly.

He went on: "We are now at stage three. We intend to make use of all available space; instal disabled toilets; extend the parish room into the nave, using glass walls to open things up; and erect a steel framework to enable us to build a first-floor development at a later stage.

"The upper room will be a meeting room for smaller groups, to be accessed by both stairs and lift."

The cost of the entire scheme, he said, would perhaps be in the region of £250,000, but the ground-floor development alone would cost around £150,000.

The church's first objective would be to raise £50,000 with the intention of making grant application for as much as possible of the remainder.

An information pack detailing the range of church and other activities that already take place at St Andrew's --- and the groups that presently meet there --- has been circulated throughout the parish of Dearnley and Smithy Bridge.