WORK has started to transform the oldest part of Bridestowe Methodist Church into a community meeting area and coffee bar.

The church’s lower hall – the original Bible Christian Chapel dating from 1831 – is being redesigned to create a space for use by the wider village community.

The new space, which should be completed by Easter, will be called The Ark.

Church senior steward Dean James explained that the project had come about because the lower hall was in need of brightening up – and they realised there was a need for a meeting place in the village.

‘That was our thinking, to make it more of a community affair,’ said Dean. ‘There used to be a coffee shop as part of the village shop, but that closed two or three years ago and people missed it. Mums dropping children at the school used to use it for a coffee and a chat. We did a mailshot around the village and people were really keen for that to happen. We then had plans drawn up and agreed on a plan.’

The project, costing more than £100,000 from a number of charitable sources, has involved structural alterations to the building.

‘We are raising the floor, because at the moment the floor in that area is three feet below the rest of the chapel which means they are steps down to it so it is not that visible for elderly people,’ said Dean.

‘We are also putting a door from the coffee shop out onto the Launceston Road to make it handy for the people coming from the housing estate on that side of the village.’

The alterations also include putting in a disabled toilet and baby changing facilities. The kitchen will also be refurbished at a cost of £20,000, the amount still to be raised.

Dean added: ‘We’ve got a lot of people volunteering from both inside and outside the church to run the coffee bar.

‘What we are thinking is we should run it around school and church times two or three times a week. If we find we have enough people to keep it open two or three times a week then we will.’

So far, the project has cost £103,000, with donations from Methodist Insurance, the Allchurches Trust, the Leonard Laity Stoate Trust, Joseph Rank Foundation, West Devon Methodist Circuit, Bridestowe Parish Council and Devon county councillor Kevin Ball for the village, from his locality grant to support local good causes.