Historic Wirral Church is sold

Jan 12 2012 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Echo

A CHURCH designed by the same architect who created Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral has been saved from becoming flats or offices after it was bought by a Wirral-based Evangelical group.

All Saints CofE Church in Wallasey closed last year after a failed sharing arrangement with New Brighton’s Catholic church.

Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who created Liverpool’s iconic Anglican Cathedral, the church on Hoseside Road was put on the market at a guide price of £250,000.

At the time it was advertised as having potential for redevelopment.

But it has now been bought by the Jubilee Church Wirral, subject to final legal checks, and the religious group hopes to be moving in there by the summer.

Jubilee Church leader Dave Frodsham said they had been looking for new premises for some time after it became clear they needed a larger space.

Mr Frodsham, 42, had been an accountant for Marconi before taking redundancy to lead the church full time, and has seen its membership grow to more than 100.

He said: “We wanted something that is usable for our style of worship, but also available for the community to use.

“We consider the church is the people not the building, and did not want to lose that by taking on something which takes a lot of work. But this seems in generally quite good condition.”

The church was at the centre of a controversial sharing agreement between Anglican and Catholic dioceses after the closure of the “Dome of Home”, Ss Peter and Paul’s.

However, this agreement was scrapped and services began again in the day chapel of Ss Peter and Paul’s in March.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Chester said: “Subject to some detailed legal formalities being completed satisfactorily, we should be able to proceed with that sale.”