Room to Grow

Speaking about the project, Christ Church Minister Revd Janice Audibert says:
"Creekmoor is a great place to live but we believe the area deserves even better facilities. The needs of the church and the community have outgrown the space available.

"We have been overwhelmed by the support shown by the local community, other churches, the Salisbury Diocese and those further afield.

"Part of Christ Church’s vision is to serve the Community. Therefore, to help meet these needs we plan to provide an expanded community hub in the church building.

"The Community Hub will provide better Worship facilities, further children, family and youth activities, a daily Community Café with Dementia support and enable new community projects such as Creekmoor Dementia friendly activities for the whole community to help address loneliness and isolation in the surrounding area."

The building work, which will double the floor space for use by Church and Community, will take around eight months and, during that time, the Sunday morning services and the majority of the Community activities will move to the nearby Community Centre Social Club.

"The Church is stepping out in faith to start the building work but more funds are still needed to finish and equip the building," Revd Audibert said.

This is despite the fact that the fund raising for the 'Room to Grow' project is just £285,000 shy of the £1.26m total, the work can start on creating a larger more flexible worship space and a community hub.

As of March 2019, the total raised or pledged stands at over £975,000. This includes over £100,000 raised from within the church family and from local businesses and the wider local community.

In a flyer sent out to the community, the church says:
"We are still asking for the community to help us raise the last £285,000 to finish and equip the building.

"We’re challenging people from the Church and Community to get together to raise £1000 and there’s loads of ways to do it!

"Doing odd jobs; washing cars; table top sale; garage sale; pop up shop; sponsored event; cake sale and many other ideas."

"The 'Room to Grow' project was launched to provide a larger more flexible and accessible space to enlarge our worship and extend our existing ministry to the community, creating 'the Place' for all people of Creekmoor."

In lending his support to the project, Bishop Nicholas said:  "Christ Church grows people who are an immensely valuable resource.  The building provides space for the local community to gather for a variety of purposes. It needs to grow to make room for everyone. There is a clear vision and strong purpose for 'Room to Grow'."

In addition to the Bishop, support for the project has been given by the Archdeacons of Dorset and Sherborne; local MPs past and present; local Ward Councillors; the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner; local doctors; the local Community Association; the Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT); and Girl Guiding UK.

An open morning on Saturday 6 April is being held to give members of the community more information about the works.

To find out more, get in touch here