WORSHIPPERS at a church in Freshbrook the whole community uses celebrated receiving a £10,000 grant.

The money has been put to good use and paid for new automatic doors at the front and back of the building which will be the first of many planned improvements to the church’s facilities.

Church administrator Stephen Cox said: “We want to make the building as accessible as possible for all groups that use the church.

"Automated doors were identified as a priority in the consultation we conducted. In addition to church activities, the building is used by multiple community groups during the day and in the evening throughout the week.

“This church had an estimated 54,000 visits over the last year and we became increasingly aware that the original heavy doors were difficult for a number of people to open, including parents with push chairs, people in wheelchairs or mobility scooters, and the elderly.

“We are very grateful to the Hills Group Ltd for the grant because the new doors are already making a big difference to lots of our users who don’t have to struggle to open them.”

The Landfill Communities Fund, which is administered for the Hills Group Ltd by the Rural Community Council for Wiltshire Community First, gave out the grant.

Automated Doorways installed the new doors and Mr Cox was thrilled to have them finished - and has plenty of ideas for more updates.

He added: “The building is 30 years old and needs a bit of TLC so we consulted with our users about our upcoming plans.

“The first stage was automatic doors and next we want to find funding to replace ceiling panels with reflective ones, sort the inefficient and expensive heating system out, put in eco-friendly LED lights and repaint some of the rooms.

“When we applied for a number of grants, we never expected to receive £10,000 of the £14,000 we needed for the doors, we were really chuffed.

“Our church is used by the Guides and Rainbows, and for blood transfusions and the Swindon Food Collective. We also host a Snack and Chat session on Fridays from 12pm, which is a great chance for elderly and isolated people to meet up.

“Our members give us a large portion of our funding but we don’t have enough to pay for the rest of the improvements so we would like to receive more grants. A lot of our applications got turned down and I think it’s because people see the word ‘church’ and think it’s an old falling-apart building nobody uses but this is more than that, it’s a community hub.”