A SALISBURY vicar is sending out a rallying cry to help save a church for the community by converting it into a multi-use centre.

Rector of Bemerton, Reverend Simon Woodley is leading the campaign to raise the final £100,000 in a £450,000 project for Bemerton St John Church.

If the money cannot be raised by the end of May, the church faces being boarded up and left redundant for years.

The church closed in 2009 after the heating broke and there was no money to fund the £45,000 it was going to cost to replace.

The congregation of around 20 ended up moving elsewhere with some going to one of Mr Woodley’s other churches 100 yards down the road.

A charity – Bemerton Community Ltd – was then set up to organise fundraising to convert the church and gain the relevant consents.

Now, the neighbouring local school of Bemerton St John is driving the campaign because it is keen to use the building for assemblies, music lessons and other activities.

The community has already donated £70,000 with the remaining funds coming from grants and trusts and the Board of Education.

The project will involve taking out the pews, putting in a new floor, a glazed screen and two smaller meeting rooms as well as making a new ramped entrance installing new heating.

While community groups will be able to use the building in the evening and at weekends, it will still be available as a church for weddings, christenings and funerals as well as at Christmas and Easter for services.

However, for the school to be an anchor tenant, it needs to be in use by September which means funding has to be in place by next month.

Mr Woodley, who has been involved with similar changes of use with churches in Birmingham and London, and is chair of Bemerton Community Ltd said: “We are now at a critical point. Between now and May is when we will either win this, or lose.

“After that, the building quotes will expire, the school will find other places, and the committee will have no option but to wind up the company and hand back all the money.”

Anyone who would like more information on the campaign or can help in anyway is asked to email revwoodley@me.com