A CHURCH will be celebrating the completion of a renovation brought about after children vandalised roofing felt causing the building to flood.

Bacup-based kitchen manufacturer J and J Ormerod (JJO) agreed to provide a new kitchen at cut price to Haslingden Baptist Church and work was due to start last year.

However, while the church was having its roof replaced, vandals damaged the roofing felt before the slates had been replaced then heavy rain in October resulted in water destroying nearly every ceiling and floor in the Bury Road building causing £40,000 worth of damage.

Now that repair work is almost finished, the delayed kitchen installation has been able to take place.

Different people had donated the previous kitchen over several years and it consisted of a domestic cooker and a collection of mismatched units, some of which were collapsing.

Barbara Shaw, who is a deacon and also treasurer, said: “We have a luncheon club on a Tuesday when we can have around 30 residents attending.

“On a Sunday morning we use the kitchen for coffee after church and we also had the Memory Choir, Rainbows and Brownies meeting here.

“We hope that once everything is finished we will be able to let the building out more and having a proper kitchen will help.

“We had a legacy which helped to pay for the kitchen but we couldn’t start anything because of the flooding.”

JJO Kitchen Fitter Darren Ball described the old kitchen as ‘well used’ and said: “It was in desperate need of rejuvenation.

“There was a lead heating pipe behind the units and space for it had been cut out. This left the edges exposed, took away some of the shelf space and weakened the units.

“We took the pipe out completely and now there is lots more storage space and all of the units can be used and there is now a five burner cooking range.”

A new vertical radiator has also been installed in a better location so the room can be heated.

Darren added: “I really don’t know how they managed to use the kitchen they had for all the activities that go on in the building.”

Everyone in the community, and all those who have been involved in the church’s renovation, are invited to attend the celebration service on Saturday May 9 at 4pm.