THE £1 million mark has been passed as fundraising continues for Knaresborough’s newest community centre.

Members of Gracious Street Methodist Church are celebrating passing the £1m barrier as the COGS (Centre on Gracious Street) project reaches the final stages.

Launched in April, 2006, the appeal has so far raised £1,038,500 towards the estimated cost of £1,350,000 for the entire project.

Fundraiser Brian Souter said: “The COGS committee has faced all sorts of trials and tribulations over the last three and a half years but as stage one of the project nears completion, there is great excitement.

“Just about everything that could go wrong probably has. We failed to get Lottery Funding, our original builder went into liquidation and the 1815 building developed a nasty looking crack. We have survived all that and now we can celebrate.

“People have been generous with time and money. A lot of hard work has been put in by our church members, our architect Ian Moore and our builders Houseman and Falshaw; we thank them all.”

To that end, the church is holding an open day tomorrow, from 10am to 4pm, for people to call in and see the new COGS building at the Gracious Street Church.

Everyone is invited to call in and see the new facilities, which include ‘The Bridge’ drop-in coffee bar, new premises for the Noah’s Ark pre-school playgroup, a meeting room, offices, toilets and access to the upper floor of the 1815 Church Hall.

Visitors will also see the stunning new atrium glass roof to The Bridge, which is situated in the foyer of the new building and has direct access to a paved courtyard area providing play space for Noah’s Ark.

“We still have work to do and on Saturday it will not be possible to see the new kitchen, which has been delayed due to the crack,” continued Mr Souter.

“This has now been repaired and we hope the kitchen will be completed in about another three to four weeks’ time, enabling Lunchlink meals for the elderly to restart.”

He added: “We will continue with our fundraising to pay for the renovations and updating needed to the 1815 Church Hall, which we hope will be possible in early 2010.”

There will also be a display at the open day showing the “COGS story so far” and visitors can see the lift and new staircase to the first floor of the original hall building which gives access to the additional rooms.The refurbishment of these rooms will be done in the next stage.

Also new is a ‘Changing Places’ toilet on the first floor installed with a grant from North Yorkshire County Council.

“Standard disabled toilets do not meet the needs of all people with a disability, or their carers,” said Mr Souter. “People with profound and multiple learning disabilities, as well as other serious impairments such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis or an acquired brain injury, often need extra facilities to allow them to use the toilets comfortably.

‘Changing Places’ include extra features and more space.”