MEMBERS of a Bolton church are pulling out all the stops to restore and extend a listed old building.

Some 188 years ago, the Ainsworth family gave land for a school for local children and the "Jubilee School" in Church Road, Bolton, was built and named in honour of King George III's jubilee.

It will be the focus of a special project for the congregation of St Peter's Church, Halliwell.

A £750,000 scheme to restore the Christian meeting place is scheduled to welcome the millennium.

The refurbishment is planned to start in March 1998 and end in March 1999 and will be financed solely by covenants and gifts.

The building is home to a wide range of activities, from the Teddy Bear Club to Men's Keep Fit, and the "in-reach and outreach work" of St Peter's Church.

The new look Jubilee School will aim to be "an attractive, practical, welcoming and homely meeting place available to all the parish, a building where God is at the centre of all the activities", say the parishioners steering the project.

There will be new conference facilities, offices, and recreation areas.

Although the interior will be changed to meet modern day needs like wheelchair access and lifts, the outside of the building will be restored exactly as it is now.

With no outside financial help available, the people of St Peter's are "pulling together in fellowship and giving their time, talents and money" for the massive project.

The main features of the restored school will be:

1. New facilities with spacious foyers and a feature staircase. Vastly improved toilet facilities on both floors with special provision for the disabled, including lift to the first floor. A large kitchen on the ground floor;

2. New meeting venue with nine rooms and a children's area that will have en-suite toilet facilities;

3. Recreation area with a games hall and an external, secure play area for young children;

4. Offices which will provide a purpose built parish office with a separate reprographic room;

5. Conference facilities to cater for 200 people, with audio and visual systems.

There will be a Gift and Pledge Day for any special offerings on Sunday, April 27, at St Peter's Church.

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