A CHURCH community is still determined to reach its £¾m fundraising target.
Trinity Methodist Church in Mirfield is at the beginning of a major revamp that will see it well into the future.
But church fundraiser Christine Sykes said they needed another big push for funds in order to get to the next stage.
Christine, a grandmother of 11, said: "Over £300,000 has been spent on the urgent replacement of the roof, repair of the windows and modernisation of the vestibule to make a meeting area and coffee room and it looks wonderful.
"However, the demolition of the exceedingly decrepit schoolroom has had to be put on hold because the costs were rising faster than we could find the money.
"The hope had been to refurbish the rooms under the church and build a state- of-the-art community room because we are used by the people of Mirfield from 7am to 6pm each weekday, plus several evenings and weekends."
If completed, the community room will provide access for the disabled, a modern kitchen and media centre and toilet block. A car park will also be built.
Christine, 64, said: "We’ll have toilets that work. The ones that are there at the moment are a disgrace.
"They are so old-fashioned that they are always breaking down, and they are not modern so they take a lot of work to keep clean and it’s the same in the old-fashioned kitchen."
The church, on Huddersfield Road, in the town centre of Mirfield has a neo-classical chapel built in 1877.
At the rear of the chapel is an attached schoolroom which opened in 1862, becoming the hub of the church community’s activities.
The Grade II listed buildings have often been described as architectural gems, but building inspections highlighted a number of problems and concerns that the buildings were no longer user- friendly.
Church officials could not find grants readily available and members of the church have been committed to raising a lot of the money they need through various events.
Up-and-coming fundraising events include a Nostalgia Afternoon Tea event on September 10 at 2pm at the church.
Other activities include a stall on Dewsbury Fleamarket, a bag pack at a local supermarket, monthly cake stalls and a table-top sale.
Christine, a retired civil servant, said she hoped Mirfield’s community would keep supporting the fundraising drive.
She said: "The church is very special. We’re a church as in we are the people and the people are the church.
"And we just stay together and play together and we do have a reputation for being a church that prays for people."
