MEMBERS of St Helens Road Methodist Church hope to commemorate its centenary with a new £840,000 building.

The church, in Middle Hulton, Bolton, is made up of two buildings.

They celebrated the 100th anniversary of the "lower school" -- now used as a church Sunday school -- in 1999. This year sees the centenary of the chapel, which was built in March 1903.

As celebrations get underway, members are becoming increasingly excited about proposals for a new church.

The two-phase project, which would involve bulldozing the lower property and building a new church in its place, before completely refurbishing the chapel to be used as a community building, would cost £840,000 and take an estimated two years to complete. Following in-depth consultations, plans have been drawn up and a 3D model of the new church has been made. The proposals must now be approved by the church council and presented at the annual church meeting, circuit meeting, district meeting and national conference before finally being submitted to Bolton Council for planning permission.

Sunday School co-ordinator Maureen Williams said: "A new building will mean more room to accommodate the Sunday School. We have more than 50 children and not enough space at the moment. We are desperate for room."

Bert Millington, aged 73, has been a member of St Helens Road Methodist since he was four years old. He attended Sunday School there, met his wife Joyce and married her there 50 years ago. He also had his two sons and two of his granddaughters christened there.

He said: "There is a long way to go before building can start. We hope to know in summer whether we have planning permission, then we should be able to find out how much we will get in grants and how much we need to raise ourselves."