CHURCHES around Herefordshire are hoping to open their doors to wider community use thanks to a new £14,000 guide.

The guide is an updated version and expands on a similar one published by the Diocese of Hereford in 2005.

It is being funded by a £12,000 grant from the Allchurches Trust and a contribution of £2,000 from the diocese, to the Historic Religious Buildings Alliance (HRBA).

The guide aims to provide support and practical guidance to parishes with the view of churches remaining open as a place of worship, as well as the wider community running activities and support groups in them.

It is being written by a specialist consultant, along with contributions from an architect, practitioners and other professionals.

Allchurches grants officer, Peter Mojsa said: "We hope it will help even more churches remain open as places of worship but also become places where the wider community can enjoy a whole range of activities and services that will improve the quality of their lives."

Ann Stead, OBE, Chairman of Stadhampton Community Building Project said without the guide it took her five years to change their local church.

She said: "We started our project to modify our local church so that it could become a village hall in 2008 and it took us five years to achieve it.

"We lacked the information we desperately needed about the sensitivities involved in creatively modifying a religious building so we felt very alone for much of the time.

"I cannot recommend this toolkit enough, I wish I had known about it when we started."

'Crossing the threshold: a step by step guide to developing your place of worship for wider community use and managing successful building projects' is set to be launched on November 3, at St Martin in the Bullring, Birmingham.

It will be free to download online and available as a printed version upon request.