Bishop Christopher has re-dedicated a Portsmouth church that has been transformed by a £750,000 project.

Canon Michael Lewis in the revamped Church of the Holy Spirit, Southsea

The revamp of Church of the Holy Spirit has seen new rooms created for church and community use at the west end of the building. There is a new stone altar, font and lectern – and a dramatic hanging figure of Christ at the east end of the church.

The new ‘church centre’ at the west end  includes a large, modern hall, two smaller meeting rooms, a new entrance, a  kitchen and new toilets. They are separated from the main worship area of the  church by modern glass walls.

Workers from construction firm Norman Wright  (Portsmouth) Ltd took seven months to complete the work, during which time  worship continued in a side aisle cordoned off from the main building  work.

The church also took the opportunity to revamp their worship  area, commissioning a new ten-tonne altar, and a new font, lectern and  tabernacle. Stonemason Elliott Brotherton carved them all out of the  Portuguese stone. And a dramatic new figure of Christ with outstretched arms  was created by artist Peter Eugene Ball to hang over the chancel.

The  bishop, the Rt Rev Christopher Foster, re-dedicated the church, and blessed the church centre and the new liturgical furniture at a special Pontifical  Concelebrated Mass on November 20. He also preached during the service, which attracted 350 worshippers.

The vicar, Canon Michael Lewis, said: “This is such an improvement on our facilities, both for church events and also for community organisations to  use. Funnily enough, even though part of the worship area has been used to create these new rooms, other changes mean that the worship area feels no  smaller than it was before!

“There are very few places for community  organisations to meet in this area, so this lovely, state-of-the-art hall will  be a godsend to local people. We’ve already had some enquiries and are very  happy to hear from any group that would like to use our facilities.

“I’m very pleased with the way it has turned out, and with  the way that our new altar, font, lectern and tabernacle feel in this space. The figure of Christ is also excellent. It’s meant to be deliberately ambiguous, so that it could either be Christ crucified or Christ  triumphant.”

The funding for the project came largely from the sale of  the church’s former, dilapidated hall on Fawcett Road to developers.

Visitors are welcome to see the revamped church, or to make enquiries  about hiring the church centre. Contact the church office on 023-92829038.