A more welcoming and inviting church centre was the prize in sight when St Peter's, Bilton-in-Holderness (east of Hull) applied for an 'Awards For All' grant from the National Lottery at the end of 2019.

St Peter's Centre is a spacious and well-used facility beside the church, but its entrance looks forbidding and needs updating with glazed automatic doors and extended accessibility ramps, while improved fire doors and new storage spaces will make the centre safer and tidier.

Ian Pearson of St Peter's explains that the PCC was able to meet the three funding priorities for Awards for All: bringing people together and building strong relationships in and across communities, improving the places and spaces that matter to communities, and helping more people to reach their potential, by supporting them at the earliest possible stage.

"Our Project involves our community and this was done by speaking to all regular users of the centre about our plans and they thought it was good and much needed idea," said Ian.

"We were really pleased to hear of our success."

They've also received £500 for electrical work from the Sir James Reckitt Trust, but Fundraising for the project isn't over; in February while Storm Dennis menaced the north of England, a Saturday table-top sale was planned in St Peter's Centre, and as Ian explains, everything was ready to go.

"The helpers were just about to have a hot drink before the hoped-for influx of buyers, but then a lady and her daughter appeared asking if they were at the right place for her party booked for 25 children. Somehow we’d overbooked the Centre, which had never happened before and so as not to disappoint the children we decided to abandon our sale.

"Then one of the organisers had a calling from above (it must have been), to hold the sale inside the Church and so it was done. The children’s parents helped us to move all our saleable items on to pews all over the church and on tables near the pulpit and altar.

"Phil and Margaret also set up their famous bacon butty and hot drink stall near the organ and what followed was really encouraging. We were treated to a lot of support from the villagers, some of whom don’t as a rule come into church, actually visiting us buying a lot of bric a brac and hot bacon sandwiches whilst contending with Storm Dennis.

"It was a success, raising a bit of money for Church funds, but most importantly making a lot of new friends."