Volunteers who saved a village church from closure have completely transformed it into a cherished community venue.
Easington Colliery Methodist Church, in County Durham, was declared at risk of closure in 2022 due to maintenance costs and a dwindling congregation.
But a new community benefit society, Focus Easington, was established to lease and renovate the church so it could reopen as The Welcome Centre.
Following a complete overall — backed by believe housing, RE:GEN Group, and other funders, supporters and volunteers — The Welcome Centre now offers a range of services to local people, from youth activities and a lunch club to a community pantry and other support.
Landscaping work to turn the grounds into an accessible community garden was recently completed; ready to be planted and used from Spring 2025.
Housing association believe housing helped to kick-start the project last year with a £30,000 community grant towards renovation work, including a new heating system and windows, and a further £5,000 towards the outdoor space.
Its contractor, regeneration and construction specialist RE:GEN Group, then donated £10,000 for the garden and replaced the old kitchen with state-of-the-art facilities.
Louise Taylor, Executive Director of Governance and Strategy at believe housing, said: “It is really important to us to support projects like this.
“These buildings and the organisations working in them are a real anchor in our communities and provide spaces for our customers and other people living in the communities to go to.”
Rachel McMullen, Social Value Coordinator at RE:GEN Group, said: “Being a long-term partner of believe housing and spending the amount of time we do upgrading people’s homes, we see firsthand how important these vibrant community spaces are to people who live there.
“We are really proud to have been part of such an important and worthwhile project.”
Durham County Councillor Angela Surtees, who leads Focus Easington, said it was important to save the building and support residents in an area of high deprivation.
“If nobody had taken it on it would have closed and left a blight on the community,” she said.
“It has had an absolutely fantastic, positive impact on the community.”
