A CHURCH in Tolladine is celebrating after being awarded £25,000 to refurbish its community centre.

The Church Urban Fund's backing for Christchurch will help to improve the facilities for the many community groups that use it.

The Rev Dr Jeni Parsons said it was great news for Tolladine.

"It's just the first step towards providing the sort of environment this area needs and deserves," she said.

The curate, the Rev Duncan Ballard, said they were looking forward to giving the building a facelift.

"The whole community area is rather run-down and the idea is to spruce the whole thing up, put on a proper roof, and then make the space under the roof into another room.

"We're trying to make it more useful and more attractive," he said.

The centre is always busy with a wide variety of community organisations making use of the facilities.

These include toddlers groups, youth groups and an over-50s group.

During the summer there are playschemes and activities for children and every Thursday morning there is a breakfast club, at which local residents can have a cooked breakfast for £1.

"It's a really well-used centre, and now we just have to make it look better and work better for the people who do use it," said Mr Ballard.

Before any plans were drawn up they talked to user groups and to the organisation Communities Around the Park about the kind of facilities that were needed to keep the centre thriving.

"We have been granted planning permission so we think that people will be able to see something happening later this year, hopefully by Christmas," Mr Ballard added.