An empty warehouse is being transformed into a £35,000 community venue for groups who have lost their bases due to budget cuts.

The building, next to the Riverside Church, in High Street, Burton, is currently empty but work is now taking place to revamp the venue for the community.

The Rotary Club of Bretby is jointly working with the Riverside Church, as part of The Riverside Community Project, to renovate the large warehouse so it can be used by community groups of all types.

Currently the building is full of rubble and the first stage is to remove it with the help of building supplies company Cawarden Reclaim.

Rotary secretary Andrew Smart said: “The rotary is always looking for good community projects. We met the Riverside Church leader Daryl Williams through an event at Christmas in Asda.

“They want to renovate the warehouse next to the church. It is an empty space and they want to use it for a children’s soft play area and community groups, as well as for informal groups to generate money for the community groups who lost their rooms.

“It will cost £35,000 to do all the floors and we have raised about £22,000. We are three weeks in and just getting the rubble out, then we will re-lay the floor.

“The church has done its own fund-raising activities and our chairman has chosen this as our main project. Roger Bullivant has provided a grant of £4,200.”

Riverside Church revealed that work had started on removing the stage area in the warehouse, after £20,000 was raised from a fund-raising day, of which £12,000 will be pumped into the warehouse project while £8,000 will go towards completing building works on a new orphanage in Burundi, Africa.

Riverside Church will also use the warehouse for a youth club, worship and soft play area

New home

Operation Christmas Child has also been given a temporary home this year thanks to the Riverside Church having launched an appeal in the Burton Mail.

Operation Christmas Child, or the Shoe Box Christmas Appeal as it is commonly known, found itself homeless after its warehouse in Waterloo Street, Burton, was taken over by a new owner.

However, following an appeal by its area co-ordinator Clive Lawton, the charity has found a new home behind Pinocchios.

Riverside Church has a 20-year lease of the warehouse, owned by the Consolidated Charity of Burton, which has offered the building to Operation Christmas Child for six weeks this year.

It will enable the group to store and pack its boxes ready to be sent to children across the world.

As a thank-you to the Consolidated Charity, Operation Christmas Child will also be donating some of its boxes to local children whose families may not be able to afford a Christmas present this year.

Mr Lawton said: “We asked ourselves what can we do for the Consolidated Charity. It is interested in things for local children so we decided we are going to donate some of the boxes to children in the local area.

“If local people find they can't afford a Christmas present then we could help.”

Operation Christmas Child is now continuing to raise money for the cause and a charity music night featuring a tribute to The Shadows is to be held.

The Shadtownes will appear at the Priory Centre, Stretton at 7.30pm on September 9. Tickets cost £10 which includes a two-course buffet. They are available by calling Mr Lawton on 07939 012458.

Anyone who can provide a home for the group next year is asked to contact Mr Lawton.