At a cost of £800,000, the former Trinity Church schoolrooms on Chywoone Hill have been renovated and extended. They now feature two large halls, a kitchen, a sound-proofed music suite, and several meeting rooms. A third floor has also been added to the building.

Last week, the Rev Julyan Drew, minister of Newlyn Trinity Methodist Church, which owns the building, was handed the keys and conducted a ceremony to bless The Centre.

He said he was delighted with the finished product and hoped that the versatile space would be used by a wide range of community groups.

He added: "We started a project eight years ago and initially we were thinking of renovating the chapel, but during community consultations people were telling us that they needed a space for community events."

In order to meet that need the church went about raising more than three quarters of a million pounds through grants and donations.

Mr Drew added: "It's been a huge effort from lots of people, and the team work that's gone into it has been fantastic. Of the £800,000 we needed £250,000 was raised locally by numerous fundraising events which we were very grateful for."

The Centre will be run by Jerry Drew, who says there has already been considerable interest from local groups interested in making use of the building, unique in Newlyn.

SureStart, the Three Village Youth Project, the Brownies, the Guides, a short mat bowls club and Network Training are among the organisations due to operate from the building, while EverybodyOnline, a local project to promote internet use, will also be based at The Centre, which has been fitted with a wireless broadband connection.

Mr Drew explained: "Our hope is that we can respond to the needs of the community. We didn't want to define the uses for all the rooms, instead they are just 'spaces' as far as we are concerned.

"The idea is that we want to keep it simple and make sure we are flexible to changing needs."

Part of the renovation work has seen the former school room made wider, to allow the introduction of a dedicated reception area.

According to Mr Drew it will allow several events to run simultaneously, something that wasn't possible in the past when all visitors entered through the main hall.

This week a small team of builders were putting the finishing touches to The Centre which is set to be a hive of activity on Saturday for its inaugural events.

The craft fair will run from 9am in the downstairs hall and a church bazaar will be held from 10am in the main hall, the opening of which is of particular significant to one group of keen watchers.

It will provide a new home for the congregation of the Newlyn Trinity church, which has been displaced during the lengthy building works.

Soon the focal point of worship will be a new sanctuary, due for completion in December, which will feature the work of several local crafts people. As well as bespoke oak flooring the impressive design is set to include copper work and a specially commissioned stained glass window depicting sights of Newlyn.

Julyan Drew believed the installation to be unique in Penwith and perhaps even the whole of the county.

The sanctuary will be behind sliding doors which can be opened during services, and closed off when other events are taking place in the hall.

Jerry Drew said this week that he hoped as many local people as possible would make it along during Saturday in order to have their say on future uses for the building.