WORSHIPPERS will celebrate 50 years since their church was re-consecrated with a special service later this month.

The Church of the Holy Spirit, on Fawcett Road, Southsea, will celebrate its golden jubilee on January 26 with a mass led by Bishop Kenneth The bishop will celebrate the mass and preach at the service, which starts at 11am.

The church was originally re-consecrated on January 25, 1958, after two years of building work. It was rebuilt from the shell of the former St Matthew’s Church, which was destroyed by fire after bombing in January 1941.

The congregation from St Matthew’s joined up with that from St Bartholomew’s Church in Campbell Road, Southsea, in the new joint church. The two churches had originally been part of the same Church of England parish.

At the 1958 consecration service, the then Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Launcelot Fleming, presided with the assistance of four others who were or would become bishops. They included the Rt Rev Ted Roberts, who was vicar of St Matthew’s when it was destroyed and became the first vicar of the Parish of the Holy Spirit. He later became the Bishop of Ely.