THIS is what the new parish centre at Alverstoke will look like.

St Mary’s Church, Alverstoke, held a launch weekend at which they unveiled the exciting design of their new centre, which is designed to serve the whole community. The image was created by local, award-winning Plum Architects, and shows how it will be a fabulous venue for the people of Gosport.

The Mayor of Gosport, Cllr Mark Hook, was there, and heralded the new centre as a unique and much-needed facility, in which people can meet for wellbeing, celebration, learning, creativity, companionship and more.

He said the pandemic has demonstrated the need for such spaces that are accessible, up-to-date and sustainable. And he spoke of how we arrived at the new design by matching the many requirements of different community users and groups.

The attractive two-storey centre will allow up to three different groups to meet at the same time without disturbance and with their own catering facilities. There will also be a 24-hour accessible adult changing space, an attractive garden and much needed additional parking.

Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage, encouraged all the community – individuals and businesses – to get behind the fundraising for what will be an important building in Gosport for many years to come.She wants people to get behind this project with sponsorship, donations and support, so we can get on with building it.

She commended the volunteer project team for their work, which has led to the design and has seen over £300,000 raised already. But the balance of around £1.7m remains, which we hope to raise in grants and donations.

The project team also staffed a stall at the Alverstoke Michaelmas Fayre to help local residents understand what was planned. Residents can also see the plans in St Mary’s Church and in the current parish centre.

A new dedicated website is about to be launched, but in the meantime more details and ways to support the project can be found at the Alverstoke New Parish Centre Facebook page, or on stmarysalverstoke.org.uk/new-parish-centre