HUNDREDS packed St Bartholomew's at Westhoughton on Saturday to celebrate the consecration of the new parish church.

The Bishop of Manchester the Rt Rev Christopher Mayfield, assisted by the venerable Lorys Davies Archdeacon of Bolton, conducted the service on the feast day of St Simon and Jude, five years after the former parish church was destroyed by fire.

Clergy from sister churches and other denominations in the town and the Mayor of Westhoughton , Cllr Mrs Linda Thomas joined the rector Simon Tatton-Brown at the special ceremony after walking in the Bishop's procession from the Parish Hall which has been used as a place of worship for almost the last five years.

At the church door architect John Ashworth formally handed over the keys of the new building to the Bishop before the procession entered the church to the sound of the choir singing Gloria in Excelsis Deo.

The church has been completed four months ahead of schedule at an estimated cost of £1W million. The only part of the building to survive the blaze in November 1990 was the church tower and the new building has been constructed to blend with the old.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.