AN AMBITIOUS project aims to transform a Portsmouth church to help meet the needs of the local community.

The stunning new entrance to St Jude's Church at the top of the Palmerston Road shopping precinct

Work should start this year re-ordering St Jude’s Church in Southsea. The £2.4m project includes plans for a new main entrance, the creation of community rooms and the lifting of the worship area to the first floor.

Worshippers have already raised £750,000 of the cash needed, through sacrificial giving, fundraising and grants. That should pay for the first phase of the project, which includes the creation of a stunning new glass-fronted entrance to the church opposite the end of the Palmerston Road shopping precinct.

Passers-by will be able to pop into the foyer during the day to drink coffee, view exhibitions or pray in a new chapel - the area that is the present chancel. The first phase also involves creating a new kitchen, new offices and new toilets, which will mean better facilities for church and community groups. There will also be better facilities for the church’s weekly late-night drop-in – Friday Fridge – for those on their way home from pubs and clubs.

The first phase also involves part of the church’s garden being opened up to the public. And a second main door to the north will allow wedding cars and funeral hearses to be driven up to a church entrance that is away from busy roads.

The second phase of the work involves creating a suite of multi-purpose rooms on the ground floor. They will be used by local community and church groups for meetings, presentations and performances. And a new first floor inside the 157-year-old church will house a new worship area. Worshippers will sit in a semi-circle for services, facing a new platform and altar at the west end of the building.

The vicar, the Rev Mike Duff, said: “Although our church building is at the heart of Southsea, it often looks closed and unwelcoming. These exciting and ambitious plans mean people will be able to come in throughout the day and spend time in quiet in our chapel, benefit from the garden or use a wide range of modern facilities for their own meetings.

“We really want to bless our community in Southsea, both spiritually and physically, and this project will help us to do that even more effectively.

“The re-ordering will also provide us with a much better area for worship and for children’s groups. Our current long, thin worship area, with rooms to either side, can make it hard for visitors or regular worshippers to feel part of what is going on at the front.”

The plans, drawn up by architect Nick Lee Evans, have been enthusiastically backed by diocesan planning chiefs. City councillors will now be asked to give planning permission for the project.

Work started before Christmas on some preliminary repairs to the external stonework. This completes the external repairs, which were started a few years ago with work to the tower and spire. The project has also received a grant of £50,000 from the Veolia Environmental Trust through the Landfill Communities Fund.

The first phase of the internal re-ordering should start by the middle of the year.

Worshippers and community groups will continue to use the building while this work takes place. The second phase will follow once the money has been raised.

Anyone who would like more information about the project can contact the parish office on 023-9275 0442 or office@stjudes-southsea.org.uk, or see the parish website: www.stjudes-southsea.org.uk