£1m Bradford campaign to transform threatened church

A campaign to raise up to £1m to put a church in Bradford back at the heart of the community has been launched.

St Columba's in Horton Green was nearly sold off, but was saved thanks to the efforts of the Rev John Bavington, a vicar at a nearby church.

Now campaigners say they hope the church could eventually be used as a community hub, a children's play area and offices - as well as for worship.

Mr Bavington said it would have been sad if the church was lost to the area.

As vicar of St John's, Great Horton, and St Wilfrid's, Lidget Green, he said while the future of St Columba's as a place of worship was put into doubt after his parish was expanded, he did not want to see it go.

"The building was on the market and I just looked around it and thought, what a shame it would be if a building that was built for the community was lost after all this time," he said.

As a result, what is known as the Zindigi Project was set up, which Mr Bavington explained was the Urdu word for life.

"I chose that name because we just wanted to see this wonderful old place come back to life," he said.

"Many local residents are from a Pakistani background, as I am myself, and so it just seemed to fit."

Mr Bavington said new life had already been brought to St Columba's with the launch of a sushi takeaway run from the site by a Nepalese group.

An African church congregation had also started meeting there and a street performer used one of the building's naves to rehearse, he said.

He added that another aim of the project was the creation of the area's first soft play cafe, with the promise it would be affordable for local parents who currently had few places to take their children.

However, project manager Andi Calvert said the church building itself would need a lot of repairs before it could be fully brought back into use.

She said up to £1m would need to be raised to properly realise the ambitions for the site.

"Funding is challenging. We are on with that at the moment, applying to places like the National Lottery and other big funders," Ms Calvert said.

"This particular area is in desperate need of something that will bring the community together."

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