WELCOME Church in Woking opened the doors of their new purpose-built chapel on Sunday morning and welcomed over 1,200 guests.

As well as coffee, tea and a choice of pastries, the launch morning included short talks from Woking Mayor Cllr Beryl Hunwicks and local MP Jonathan Lord. Steve Blow, finance director for Compassion UK, presented the church with a large canvas to celebrate the support the church has given to children and young mums in Togo over the last year by sponsoring 184 children and raising over £40,000 towards their Child Survival Programmes.

Steve Petch, lead elder, said: “Welcome Church has been serving Woking for 140 years and has been in this area of Woking for all that time. We’ve had five different buildings, and we hope that this new one will serve both us and our community for many years to come. The £5m project has been funded entirely by the church with the aim of providing a building suitable for the church’s needs and for helping the church to serve the community.”

For the full story get thee 23 January edition of the News & Mail