A rural church is aiming to ‘enter the 21st century’ with a £175,000 major revamp that will modernise the building to appeal more to youngsters.
Tarporley Baptist and Methodist Church has served the people of the village since 1866 and celebrates its 150 year anniversary in 2016. It is a thriving hub for the community, regularly housing events such as the village flute orchestra, mothers and toddler groups and various local bands.
About 20-25 members of Tarporley Youth Club also meet at the church every week, using the venue to undertake different activities, and with a growing young congregation, churchgoers are keen to modernise the building by removing pews and levelling the floor, to appeal to the younger community.
This combined with the influx of housing developments in the village, which will see hundreds of new homes built in Tarporley in the near future, has prompted members of the congregation to create ‘Project Nehemiah’, which will completely refurbish the facilities and fabric of the Victorian building, and they are on a mission to raise the £175,000 cost themselves.
Declan Kelly, one of the parishioners, told The Chronicle the church has a number of fundraising events planned.
“The facilities aren’t fit for purpose now and if the church is to survive and thrive it needs to be modern and attractive. We have been careful to respect the wishes and the concerns of all of the congregation in embarking on this ambitious fundraising scheme,” he said.
“We are a young growing congregation with a dynamic minister and we wish to bring the building into the 21st century. The project would see the entrance altered and a modern, multi-purpose kitchen space built, for the benefit of the community.
“We would want to increase the social action purpose of the facilities, for all age groups to ensure an inclusive, irrespective of age, mobility and disability. By adding such features of widening the main entrance points, levelling the floor and providing a flexible main area of the church, we will be providing the village with a greatly enhanced multi-purpose community facility for the 21st century.”
He added: “We are under no illusion of the scale of the project we are undertaking but other churches have managed to do it.”
A silent collection held at the church last Sunday raised a significant sum towards the project, and parishioners have submitted a detailed application for a small grant support from WREN.
Eddisbury MP will officially launch the project at the chapel this Saturday at 10.30am, and representatives of other local organisations who have offered to support the project will also attend.
