BISPHAM United Reformed Church is celebrating 90 years of faithful service to the area and its congregation this month.

The present church building opened on February 28 in 1912 as Bispham Congregational Church and the occasion is to be commemorated with a special service of praise and celebration.

The service will be held in the church on Cavendish Road at 10.45am this Sunday (March 3) and will be led by the minister, the Rev Audrey Boon.

There are also plans for a special celebration supper during a gift weekend in June.

Church secretary Neil Shaw said: "Everyone is very excited about reaching the 90th anniversary of the church and the special service will be one of praise and thanksgiving.

"The congregation is currently about 65 strong with an extra 20 or so regularly coming to the services. I have been at the church for more than 20 years and some of the congregation have been coming since they were children in the 1920s. I am sure they have seen many changes since then."

The history of the church goes back to 1834 when an original meeting place in a barn was replaced by the Bethel Chapel which was built on the present site on the roundabout in Bispham village, where it stood until 1911.

Spokesperson for the church, Patricia Shepherd said: "Christian stalwarts of that era then decided to build 'the church on the hill' in Cavendish Road, which was opened by the first minister, Rev G W Booth.

"The sale of the old Bethel Chapel to the local council helped the church be free of debt in 12 months. In 1972 it became Bispham United Reformed Church as a result of the uniting of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches of England and Wales."

The Rev Audrey Boon has been the minister since November 1995. She is the eighth minister since 1912.