FARNHAM United Reformed Church in South Street has ambitious plans for modernisation.

The imposing church, with its graceful spire, occupies a landmark position in Farnham. It has welcomed worshippers for the past 150 years and an enormous variety of people and community groups use the building on a daily basis.

However, the church recognises that the building is no longer fit for purpose and needs to be brought up to 21st century standards.

The ‘Pilgrim Project’ aims to provide much-improved facilities for community use, from children’s activities to meeting room facilities through to large concerts in a flexible sanctuary space.

It also hopes to compensate in part for the potential loss of the Brightwells Gostrey Centre for older people at the eastern end of the town.

In order to achieve this the church must raise around £1.5 million, and is therefore reaching out for grants from national and local bodies as well as seeking support from local businesses and benefactors.

Reverend Michael Hopkins said: “It’s lovely here and it’s a family landmark, but it doesn’t offer the level of comfort, welcome and facility that we are looking for today in the 21st century.

“We want to remove all of the pews and put in a new floor and make this into a multi-purpose space, because at the moment it’s really only used on Sundays – it needs to be used much more.

“Also it’s got a very old heating system which means it’s expensive to make it warm in the winter. The heat just shoots out of these windows. We need to make this much more environmentally sustainable and reduce the running costs at the same time.”

There are also plans for a new atrium, located at the front of the building – with its primary purpose as the main entrance to the church, as there are currently three.

The hall and rooms at the back of the church, which are used by a wide variety of community groups throughout the week, are also on the agenda for a refit.

“They are dated and basically worn out, we are hoping to demolish them, replace them and help make better use of the space,” said Rev Hopkins.

The Pilgrim Project launch took place earlier this month. See the website pilgrimproject.org.uk for more information.