IT has taken years of hard work and dedicated fundraising but the new St Paul’s Church building in Penketh will soon to ready to open its doors to the community.

The old structure was demolished two years ago and since then members of the church have raised more than £800,000 to fund a new hall.

The building was completed in June but there is still work to be done and a further £100,000 is needed to complete the project.

Team vicar, Sarah Peppiatt, said: “We have been meeting in the Oaks Centre, in Stocks Lane, but we are looking forward to getting the new building. We hope people will come to a lot of the events we’ll put on, but we will also make rooms available for groups to use for their own activities.”

Heating, toilets and other fixtures still need to be fitted and electrical and gas installations are due to be completed by the end of the month. Modern television and sound equipment will also be installed.

The Oaks Centre manager, Karen Howard, added: “We have managed to keep most of our usual activities going for the last couple of years as well as holding church services, but when the new building is open we’ll be able to do more at the Oaks and the facilities at the new building will be more suitable for some community activities.

“It’ll be win-win all round.”

The project is set to total nearly a million pounds and the church is still looking for kin-hearted residents to help them raise enough cash to pay for the building to be finished.

To donate or for more information visit give.net/stpaulspenketh or call 725099.