Volunteers and congregation members of St Cuthberts Church, in Etherley, have spent the past two years refitting and extending the 19th century site as a hub for the community.
A £50,000 toilet and kitchen block has now been completed to join the church’s new carpets, lights and two-sided pew arrangement.
Church warden Barrie Kirton said the refit would allow the church to serve Etherley and Toft Hill.
He said: “We want to be the central hub of the village, a facility for outreach to bring more and more people in to enable people to use the church because it’s their church.
“Our vision is to be a central hub for anyone in the village who wants to use the church – not just on Sunday.”
The extensive revamp is the first major refurbishment the grade II-listed church has seen since it was built in 1833.
Narrow walkways due to the pew arrangement had made hosting weddings and funerals difficult at St Cuthberts and there was no drinkable water supply before the renovation.
Mr Kirton revealed it was a failing boiler which provided the trigger for all the work.
He said: “I think the catalyst was the heating system failed and as a church council we thought we would go the whole hog.
“We put together the application and got approval from the Church of England after quite a long time.”
The new heating system was installed in October last year and has proven a hit with the congregation.
Mr Kirton added: “The old heating system was totally unfit in many respects – it was always cold in winter. But nowadays we have people taking their coats off asking us to turn it down.”
After the heating came new carpets and a race against time to install them before a wedding.
“We had a wedding on the Saturday and it was still a building site on the Thursday,” said Mr Kirton. “But with the help of the congregation and Frank’s Factory Carpets we did it in one day and had it ready on the Friday night.”
Mr Kirton, a retired electrical engineer, climbed the ladders himself to fit the new lights. Help also came from people outside the congregation, including Etherley decorator Gary Shaw, who gave up his time to help and offered advice free of charge, and principle stonemason for Beamish Museum Kenny Bowen who helped to move the church’s ancient stone font.
Parts of the old pews were also recycled into creating a mobile servery as well as a storage cupboard. However, the newly completed kitchen and extension is arguably the biggest change at the church.
Tea and refreshments will no longer be out of reach after services take place and there is scope for coffee mornings, a new toddler group and a lunch club at the church. Disabled facilities have also been installed.
“We are all absolutely chuffed with it in terms of its design and outlay,” added Mr Kirton. “It is all ready and functional – I cannot praise the contractors Mike Neesam and Sons highly enough. We will be doing a community club in the not too distant future and we have other plans of bringing the school and nursery in.”
The Bishop Auckland Choral Society have booked the church on October 15 for its first post-renovation function. It will be officially opened by the Bishop of Jarrow Mark Bryant on November 4 alongside an open afternoon for the public to see the work between 2pm and 5pm.
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