A WELL-used Worcestershire community centre is on a mission to raise £28,000 so it can pay for much-needed repairs and refurbishments.

St Andrew's Parish Centre in Church Walk, Pershore, needs to raise £50,000 within a year to pay for a new kitchen, clear out clutter, redecorate and rewire the whole building, which is a former church.

Wychavon District Council has already given a grant worth £15,000 to the St Andrew's Trust.

A further £7,000 has been raised by the Trust through concerts, catering and also by donations.

But with more than half the money still to be found before work can even be started on the 11th Century building, the race is on.

Sheila Grantham, who is heading the appeal, said: "People always see the amount we've got to raise and say it's quite a lot but I'm hell bent on doing it. It's my baby and I will get that money one way or another."

However, the 72-year-old from Acorn Grove said that getting the money is easier said than done.

She said: "Grants are the big way of doing it but we do have other things dribbling through. The trouble is, a lot of people who give out grants don't give them out to ecclesiastical buildings.

"When they realise that it's a community centre serving the young and the old and not a church they look at us a bit more seriously.

"It's very important that this work is done because the centre is used so much by the public. I've been campaigning to make these changes for about 10 years now," she added.

Five years ago, the centre had new toilets installed at a cost of £68,000, and Wychavon District Council helped with the funding then. The centre is used by all sorts of groups from toddlers to pensioners. Jem Teal, community grant scheme manager, said: "Without buildings like St Andrew's Parish Centre community groups simply have no where to operate from. These groups service our whole community.

"St Andrew's, like many other community buildings, struggles to secure funding and we hope that the grant of £15,000 will enable the trustees to provide a welcome facelift that can accommodate existing community groups and maybe even attract some new users."

If you want to make a donation to the St Andrews Trust then call Sheila Grantham on 01386 553369.