A FORMER care home is to get a new lease of life as a church and centre for the community.

Forest Gate Church in Mitcheldean recently completed the purchase of Townsend House in the centre of the village.

The first phase of the conversion has started and it is hoped the main building will be ready for use by about November.

Around 80 people attended a recent open day at Townsend House – which closed down in 2018 – to hear more about the plans.

Forest Gate has worshipped in the Congregational Chapel on the main road to Gloucester for 50 years.

The church already hosts a large number of groups including preschool groups, kids clubs, youth drop-in sessions and senior citizens gatherings.

It is also used by other organisations for training and counselling sessions.

The congregation has been looking for another building for several years that has more suitable access for wheelchairs and pushchairs and can accommodate the various groups

Steve Jones, one of the church’s leadership team said: “We're going to focus on the front of the building. That's going to give us room for the church to meet, for the youth clubs, for the preschool meetings, for the senior citizens' coffee mornings.

“We're putting in a new kitchen, coffee bar, youth rooms, the toilets are being renovated, and the main rooms are being turned into a gathering space.”

Future phases will see the three wings converted for community use.

Mr Jones said: “Each of the wings has got an allocated plan, but not for at least a year.

“The left hand side will become a youth zone with breakout rooms for Xboxes and arcade machines and that kind of stuff.

The other wing will make a big space for children's work because we do a lot of kids and preschool work.

The back wing, which has got about 15 bedrooms, is going to be turned into a counselling service with a partner charity.

“These bedrooms are almost the perfect size for counselling rooms for people both in the local community and further afield.

We've been in Mitcheldean since the 1970s, and the chapel building that we own currently is opposite the petrol station.

“It’s great, but it has to keep getting turned around into another group.

“The preschool has storage, and it comes out, and it then gets put away, ready for the youth, or ready for the senior citizens.

“There's all sorts of groups including counselling charities that use that building, currently.

“The idea is to slowly but surely make spaces that are dedicated to different age groups.

“So the youth rooms can be far more suitable for that age group, rather than having to be a bit of a jack of all trades.

“This gives us room to grow and it gives us easy accessibility.

“Our chapel was slightly lower than the road, so it had steps.

“We had people who’ve said this is great because the corridors are wide and there is flat entry for a wheelchair or mobility scooter.”