VILLAGERS are hoping £430,000 plans for their first community facility will help bring residents together.

Concerts, children's activities, club meetings, cinema showings, music tuition and adult learning classes are just some of the ideas put forward by residents of Irwell Vale and Lumb, for the use of its methodist church, which it has been agreed will be opened up to the community.

Currently the villages do not have any kind of public building, not even a shop or pub.

The Bowker Street Church will still firstly be a place of worship for its congregation of 18, lead by Reverend Christine Leach But if bids are successful, the 250-strong population of the conservation area will be able to make far greater use of it as a community facility.

The local Methodist Circuit has already agreed to a £10,000 grant. Regeneration consultant Nigel Rix, who has been employed by the Methodist Church to head the project, said he was waiting to hear about a £85,000 grant from the national Methodist Circuit and if they had successfully got through the first stage of a £320,000 Lottery bid.

Each member of the congregation will also be donating £1,000 to the cause which has been named the Heart of Irwell Vale (HIVE).

Mr Rix said: "It's about encouraging the village to come together as a community, these sort of buildings do help to create cohesion.

"It will be totally inclusive, it is not just a church project.

"As we reach out into the community we are becoming aware of different needs for the facility; it's about putting the heart into the village."

The scheme will mean the removal of the traditional church pews, which will be replaced with more flexible seating for about 120 people.

A community room at the back of the church, currently used as a cafe on Sundays will be extended and a new kitchen and toilets will be put in, as well as a lighting and heating system to make the church more environmentally friendly.

Disabled access will also be improved and the car park extended.

The scheme has the full support of Irwell Vale Residents' Association.

Philip Naylor, chair of the residents' association, said: "We very much welcome the plans. One of the things we want to do is make the village green more accessible from the church."

Residents will find out at the end of August if the first stage of the lottery bid has been successful.