Bishop's blessing for Etherley church revamp

A PACKED congregation and a special guest have ushered in the dedication of a church renovation that’s been six years in the making.

St Cuthbert’s Church, in Etherley, hosted villagers and the Bishop of Jarrow the Rt Revd Mark Bryant for a special service and ribbon cutting on Saturday afternoon (November 4).

Volunteers and churchgoers have given up countless hours to renovate the 19th century site to make it a hub for the community.

A £50,000 toilet and kitchen block was unveiled to go alongside the church’s new carpets, lights, heating and seating arrangement.

Hymns and readings were all part of the celebrations before a sermon on the importance of community and working together from Bishop Mark.

He said: “We get too worried about the traffic going too fast – it’s important but

we need to make sure what we first of all, the whole time, is to be thankful to God for what goes on in our community.

“All of us, with God’s help, need to make the community the sort of place that never ceases to be a community where nobody feels lonely and everybody feels that they matter.”

Churchwarden Barrie Kirton was thrilled their work had come to a head and thanked St Cuthbert’s former minister Revd Richard Deimel for his help in the early stages on the renovation.

He added: “It’s been lovely to see so many people from the area and they have all really engaged in the whole thing – I could not have asked for better.

“It’s been a long time coming but to see it come to fruition is just great – I’m absolutely delighted.”

Brian Coatsworth has attended the church for 37 years and was full of praise for its makeover.

He said: “We used to put the heating on overnight and by the next morning it went out. Now you feel as though you want to be in the church.”