THE £300,000 renovation works of Christ Church in Wharton is now well underway.

The church has stood for almost 175 years and in that time has never seen any major renovation works.

Work began on the renovations in the summer and is expected to last at least six months.

Reverend Hanson said he hopes the work is completed by Easter 2016.

While the work is being completed, all of the church’s regular activities have been moved to Willow Wood Community Primary School.

“We’re loving meeting in the school,” reverend Hanson said.

“We always say the church is the people, not the building. It’s just great to be there. For a few people it’s a little bit strange to be going back to school.

“We found some old pictures of some of the adults when they were there at school."

Members of the church meet at the school every Sunday at 10am.

All of the churches funerals and weddings are temporarily taking place at S St John's Church Over.

“We’re very grateful to them for letting us use their facilities,” reverend Hanson said.

“We’re not quite sure quite how long it’s going to take at the moment, but we think it will be well after Christmas.

“We’re looking forward to the building being more appropriate and fit for purpose for the needs of a 21st century church.”

The work is expected to cost upwards of £300,000.

Much of the money to fund the work has come from church donations over the last five years.

However, WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Limited) has given £50,000 towards the project, the highest amount they grant for community projects.

Richard Smith, WREN grant manager for Cheshire, said: “The church is in an area where something like that is desperately needed in the community, so we’re quite pleased about that.

“Putting something back into the community and making a difference is one of our priorities.”