The �65,000 renovation of St Francis Church in Heartsease has been officially finished following a rededication service by The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham James.

The project involved remodelling the church's main area to make the building more comfortable – replacing traditional pews with chairs – and opening up the church as a place for community groups to make better use of the improved facilities.

The vicar of St Francis Church, the Rev Peter Howard, said: 'It's always great to have Bishop Graham with us because he is always so relaxed and able to communicate with people so well. He's very inspiring.

'We had a really great time with a full church and all the charities who helped so much with the project.

'It was a really enjoyable and uplifting occasion and we all very much enjoyed it. We can now start moving forward in what we are trying to do and we're getting into the new building and using it for lots of different things now.'

Funding for the remodelling work came from several organisations, including grants of �15,000 from the Geoffrey Watling Trust and the Norwich Diocese Mission Fund, �5,000 from the Norfolk Churches Trust and �25,000 from The Veolia Environmental Trust, made through the Landfill Communities Fund.