A NEW £700,000 centre for young people will be built in the centre of Chester – with a little help from marmalade.

The Wesley Methodist Church, based at St John Street, wants to rebuild its adjoining church hall to create a centre for young people.

The church, which has been in the community for 200 years, has already raised some £200,000 and hopes to reach its target by 2010.

The church’s events fundraising co-ordinator Olivia Owen-Griffiths is organising a host of events that will take place this year to go towards the remaining £500,000.

She said: “We’re going to create what we hope will be a really nice centre.

“From our members and a couple of things we’ve done we’ve raised £200,000. That’s us all giving our holiday money.

“We hope that with a lot of support we can get to where we want to be and it will be for the benefit of the community.”

The Wesley 2010 Renewal aims to undertake a radical programme of renovation in the church centre which will provide youngsters with activities from music to sport.

The church held a curry day in November as well as a recycle day and a charity lunch and the next event will be the Chester Marmalade Festival on February 14 where Olivia will be selling a batch of her own marmalade.

She added: “We’re hoping it will be an ongoing thing and will continue to raise money not just for ourselves.

“I make marmalade. It’s very difficult in late January finding Seville oranges so there’s a big market for marmalade making.

“They can turn this into an extra bit of fun by entering.

“It’s fun and people who make marmalade enjoy making it and if you win it’s an achievement.”

It costs £5 to enter the Chester Marmalade Festival and marmalades must be delivered to the church by February 6. The hall is open from 10am-4pm, Monday to Saturday.