A CHURCH'S £400,000 building project will soon get under way once demolition of the former church school is finished.

Parishioners from St Philip's and St John's in Nelson are hoping to open the doors on their new building in time for Easter 2000.

A lot of fund-raising has been going on to make the church dream a reality. Already, £36,000 has been raised towards the church contribution of £100,000 and the diocese has offered to match every pound raised.

The vicar, the Rev Stewart Hartley, said: "The roof has been removed from the former St John's Church School, Barkerhouse Road, and the rest of the building is being demolished.

"The site will be cleared and the new church, for both the congregations, will be built."

A joint service will be held at St Philip's next Sunday when Mr Hartley expects a congregation of more than 140.

Recently, a balloon race was held at St John's which raised £311.20 for the New Church Building Fund Appeal. The winning balloon belonged to Oliver Cain, from London, visiting relatives for a family christening.

By coincidence, the balloon followed Oliver to London and was returned from N21 by the Unity 70 Club for Handicapped Young People.

Other balloons were returned from Middlesex, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Hertfordshire.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.