PLANS to improve an historic part of Worcester have been unveiled.

Members of Old Saint Martin’s in the Cornmarket want to transform the neglected churchyard into a quiet, reflective garden.

They also want to improve the church’s parish room, opening it up to charities and community groups.

The plans were introduced by the Bishop of Worcester at a meeting held at the church.

The vision is a response to the development of the new St Martin’s Quarter in Lowesmoor.

Canon Andrew Greany, associate priest for Old St Martin’s, said the church wanted to serve the local community better.

He said: “The churchyard has been neglected for many years.

“The space is about the same size as the church itself.

“We want to create a quiet, reflective space which we hope would be a meditative place but also one for people to eat their sandwiches at lunch time.

“That part of the city is becoming quite busy with Asda and the development and there really isn’t a green space at the moment.

“The existing parish room behind the church and churchyard is in a very poor state of repair.

“We would want to reconstruct that so that it would provide good community facilities.

“We have had interest from six charities who say if there was something with good facilities in that particular part of the city they would be interested.”

Mr Greany said the plans fitted into Worcester City Council ’s desire to make it easier for people to travel between the new St Martin’s Quarter and the city centre.

Mr Greany said: “The church is right on that east/west axis and they also want to highlight buildings of historical and cultural interest as well.

“Old St Martin’s has had a church on that site for 800 years.

“It’s part of the history of the city and there is a strong possibility that Shakespeare may even have got married here.”

Project leaders will now set up a management committee to move it forward.

Significant fund-raising will also be required to make the vision a reality.

Anyone willing to offer support in terms of joining the committee, advising or fund-raising, should e-mail worcester.cityparish@btconnect.com.