Northampton church-goers pledge over 3,000 hours to community work

Nathan Williams and his volunteers made cakes to give away to shoppers

Churches in Northampton have got together over the past two weeks to pledge time to serve their local communities.

Over a ten day period this month over 3,000 hours of community service were pledged by church members.

Among the many projects were a clean-up of Eastfield Park, the redecoration of a house that had been ruined by previous tenants and a prayer walk around the town centre.

Nathan Williams from the Young Adults group at St Giles Church, in Northampton town centre, took part in a cake baking session as part of the 1,000 hours initiative.

The cakes were handed out free-of-charge to members of the public in Abington Street.

Vicar of St Giles Church, Steve Kelly, said: “Churches in Northampton already do a great deal to serve their local communities.

“For example, many run toddler groups and English language classes and support work with the homeless.

“But this gave us the opportunity to highlight what is already happening on a regular basis and to do some new things.”

The original hope was that at least 1,000 hours would be pledged but three times that amount had been committed when the initiative closed.

As well as St Giles Church, other churches involved included Kingdom Life Church, Living Grace Church, Central Vineyard Church and Emmanuel Church Weston Favell.

Go to www.lovingnorthampton.org.uk/1000hrs