CHURCH-goers in Rodbourne hung out the bunting as they invited the community to come inside and enjoy cake and a cuppa while celebrating 175 years since Swindon was born as a railway town.

Inside St Augustine of Canterbury Church in Summers Street on Saturday, residents flocked to take a look at fascinating images of the area, complied by Rodbourne Community History Group and Historic England.

They included pictures of those who left the town to join the First World War, such as Sergeant Arthur Billett. He was a teacher at Even Swindon School before the battle and was enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was later promoted to rank of sergeant and was moved from the frontline to take a court with the Royal Engineers showing the effect of mustard gas.

Another of the eye-catching photographs was of a former butchers in Rodbourne Road covered with whole chickens hanging outside the front of the shop to tempt people inside.

One of the organisers behind the event was Neil Fisher, 41, of Gorse Hill.

He said: “St Augustine’s is one of the railway churches in Swindon and we thought we would get in the spirit of Swindon 175 and help celebrate it and have an open day to show some of the history of Rodbourne and Swindon and the church as well.

“It is a big church but it is not well known and we want to make the church more visible as a community building.

“But it’s not about getting people here on a Sunday, it’s about showing them we have this great space that people can come in and enjoy and relax.

“The church was built in 1907/1908 and about 2001 I started coming here as a relief organist once a month and that got to every fortnight, then to every week and I trained to become a lay minster and now I’m a church warden as well.

“It’s such a lovely feeling, there is a feeling of love and friendship when you walk through the door. Being an organist I have played in lots of churches but I never got that feeling that this is the church I want to be in, but as soon as I walked in here I knew it was where I wanted to be.”

During the community festival there was also a barbecue, a stall selling cakes, tombola, raffle and displays created by school children at Even Swindon.

Neil added: “Every church has its problems, declining congregations and money problems. We’ve kept going despite low numbers and we are just starting to grow are our presence known in the community after several years of not really being there.”