Pre-school children bury BUILD time capsule at LRBC

Children from Leigh Road Baptist Church Pre-school buried a time-capsule today on the site of Leigh Road Baptist Church’s new building development.

Leigh Road Baptist Church (LRBC) embarked on a £1 million re-development project for their home on Marguerite Drive, Leigh-on-Sea in May of this year.

The work which aims to be completed by the end of 2011 will provide:

• a new inviting glass landmark entrance and meeting area
• a bright and inviting worship and performance space seating around 250-300
• an enhanced community hall for events, sports and celebrations
• a new purpose built pre-school facility with internal open-air safe play area
• a beautiful garden and open-air events space for all to enjoy

The children and staff of the pre-school were joined by LRBC Senior Minister, Rev Steven Hembery, Graham Milne and Tom Lawrence of building contractors T.J. Evers Ltd, LRBC Pre-school Managers Jannette Land and Liz Kelly and finally by Jane Brookes LRBC BUILD Project Coordinator.

The time capsule contains local items that show of snapshot of life in LRBC, Leigh-on-Sea and national news on this day in history. Local and national newspapers, photos and programmes of the many groups that meet at the church, a Bible and details of the other community services that are held from the church island site, as well as some work of the pre-school children.

An archive of church website for this day was also buried on a memory stick along with some sample recordings of different church services from LRBC’s weekly podcast.

Steven Hembery said, “We are delighted that every week hundreds of people use the church premises for a multitude of activities. We currently provide a coffee shop, community centre, auditorium, halls, retail outlets and warehouse facilities. However, we desperately needed to modernise our premises – the new development will help us to serve and welcome our neighbourhood more fully. The new upgraded hi-tech worship area, will also allow us to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ in a relevant and accessible way.

Jane Brookes, Project Coordinator added, “LRBC is transforming its complex by enhancing the Pre-School and community facilities. We are creating a contemporary, visible and inviting landmark that drives forward and builds upon over 100 years of services for the people of Leigh.

Until the work is the completed, the church is open for business as usual, with Sunday services and many of the weekly activities still taking place. Updates on what’s on, where and when can be found on the LRBC website http://www.lrbc.org.uk/