Family spend life savings to save former church

A family has used their life savings to buy a local derelict church with the aim of bringing it back into community use.

Park Church in Jarrow, South Tyneside, has stood vacant for almost a decade and was significantly damaged by a fire.

Resident Paul Taylor said developers previously planned to demolish the 130-year-old Victorian Gothic Revival church to build flats but the scheme was dropped after hundreds of people objected.

After buying the site at auction, he said he hoped to restore the building and open a bistro, adding: "I think even the gargoyles on the side of the church are starting to smile."

Mr Taylor said the response from the community had been "amazing".

"A lot of people talked about how their grandparents got married there and it just seems such a shame for it to be destroyed," he told BBC Radio Newcastle's Matt Bailey.

"So we bought it - and then thought about what to do with it later."

With the help of local volunteers, Mr Taylor has begun to clear out the building on Bede Burn Road.

"It's a good size and so we're going to try and replace the roof and the mezzanine levels and have it so people from the whole community can come and meet up and get to know each other," he said.

"Rather than have to go and sit in a pub and drink pints, they can come at all times of the day and evening and have a cup of tea, a cake or something nice to eat."

Mr Taylor is hoping more people will get involved with the restoration, by helping to tidy it up or assist with building and masonry work.

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