IT sounds a lot now but 90 years ago raising £2,000 to build a church must have been a fortune.

This didn't deter the members of the Hebron Christian Church, however. They not only raised the cash for the site where 12 single houses had stood, but for the building, celebrated by a procession of witness from the premises they'd been using in Commission Street to the new site in Mayor Street.

That was in 1910 and in 2000, the Church members are just as committed, with continuity including the same Bible stories for the children in a still-healthy Sunday School. Visual aids and overhead projector now add a Millennium touch, though. The building has just been refurbished, with new seating to avoid sermon fatigue! And present members and friends old and new were able to enjoy the latest additions when the Church opened its doors this month for a display of work and an evening of praise with plenty of singing.

An after-church rally was arranged with the keynote address by guest speaker Bill Friel.

It was all a far cry from those very early beginnings in 1880 with a few believers meeting in a room above a shop in Thynne Street. Now, it's on to the next Millennium...