A 200-year-old church in Haslingden is set to become a multi-faith community centre to secure its future at the start of the new millennium.

The £200,000 "Prospect St James Initiative" seeks to broaden the use of historic Grade II CofE building, off Church Street.

The millennium project has been masterminded by vicar, the Rev Roger Smith, who said without it the church would probably have been redundant by the year 2002.

He said: "We have a very large building which can accommodate 2,000 people and what we are proposing is to give it a multi-use.

"A community hall can be created at the back of the building by partitioning off part of the church and building a raised platform at the front of the church so it can be used for performances, drama and music.

"I have been vicar here since November 1996 and we had a serious fire in August last year which started in the north porch and damaged the interior of the church and the organ.

"We are planning to use some of the money from the insurance to cover redecoration costs and we have already raised more than £100,000 towards the project. We have also got funding from the central church fund, Blackburn Diocese and trust funds."

Parishioners support the plans to breathe new life into the church, which was built in 1780.

Mr Smith continued: "It would be lovely to have a building that was used every day of the week and was able to pay for itself."

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