A BLACKPOOL church has had its prayers answered by winning a National Lottery grant for a new parish centre.

St Christopher's Church in Hawes Side, Blackpool, has been awarded £451,000 for a project to build a centre which will be available for community use.

The lottery money, together with a generous £100,000 gift from an anonymous source, means the £600,000-plus project should open its doors next autumn.

The centre, in Blackpool's newest parish, will offer conference, leisure and training facilities for groups ranging from scouts and guides to the health authority, as well as church-based activities.

Regular users will include social service and education projects together with music, dance and keep-fit groups. The vicar of St Christopher's, Father Graham Rainford said: "This is a tremendous opportunity for the future of the church.

"The building will be very much a parish centre, not a church hall, and our aim is to develop a centre to meet the needs of local groups enabling them to serve others and so raise the quality of life in the area.

"It marks the church's involvement in the local community and I hope the success of this will encourage others to do the same.

"We want to develop our church at the heart of the community and get on with the real work of the church - which is mission - without having to be concerned with maintenance."

He added the new centre fitted in with the recently published Social Inclusion Plans for the resort with its emphasis on community involvement as a spur to successful regeneration.

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