mA CONGREGATION which has spent two years worshipping in a village hall will return to its church next month, after it was finally declared structurally safe.

St Nicholas' Church, Sabden, a 160-year-old Grade Two listed building, was closed in December 2001, days before Christmas events were due to get under way.

Inspectors working for the Diocese of Blackburn found structural faults at the church during one of the surveys carried out every five years.

The roof had begun pushing out, putting extra pressure on one of the walls and making the building unsafe, according to reports presented to the diocese.

Services immediately switched to the church hall, where the congregation have been going every Sunday as they raised the £131,000 needed to repair the church.

Work began last year and will be completed this month. A rededication ceremony is planned for Saturday, February 21, at 3pm.

The sudden closure of the church had ramifications throughout the village. Almost immediately, Sabden Primary School's annual nativity and carol service had to switch venues, to the nearby St Mary's Church.

The annual Christmas Eve services moved to the neighbouring parish of All Saints, Pendleton, after the congregation were invited to go there.

Several weddings also had to be moved after the picturesque church was closed.

The then vicar, the Rev Roland Nicholson described the decision as a very sad one but said the insurance company had given them no choice.

M Nicholson moved to a new parish in January 2002, but insisted the decision had been taken many months before the faults at St Nicholas' were discovered.