The Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham, Norfolk is planning a special celebration to mark a year in its new building.

The celebration, simply called ONE, takes place on Sunday September 21, one year to the day after the opening ceremony.

There has been a Baptist church in Sheringham since 1929, but the fellowship had been seeking to move or expand for around twenty years as their 1952 building on Holway Road had become cramped and dated. Structural problems which emerged in 2009 prompted the purchase of a new site on Cromer Road which was nearly three times the size of the old plot.

The striking modern building was completed a year ago, and the first Sunday meeting was held on 1 September last year, when the congregation walked from the old building along Cromer Road and crossed over the zebra crossing into the new centre, known simply as “Lighthouse”, for a time of celebration, followed by coffee and doughnuts.

The opening ceremony followed three weeks later, and formed part of a day of celebration on September 21 last year, with the guest appearance of Daniel Cutting, the Guinness Book of Records football “keep ups” champion, who demonstrated his skills.

Since then, the church’s activities, which are all open to the public, have been thriving.

These include the table tennis club, Kaleidoscope social club, Jigsaw toddler group, Art club, Youth Football clubs, School’s Out after school club, Mix youth club, Lighthouse Café, and of course the main meeting on Sundays at 10.15am. The Lighthouse building has also been used by many community groups, including Slimming World, Little Theatre, and several local choirs and societies.

'We’ve had a really exciting year since we crossed over that road into this wonderful building,' said Senior Pastor Bryan Pickard. 'We’ve seen significant growth in nearly all areas of church life, and we have been in the rich streams of God’s blessing, especially since the beginning of 2014.'

ONE will start with the weekly meeting at 10.15am on Sunday September 21, which will celebrate those rich streams, and there will be an invitation for members of the fellowship to make a contribution towards repaying some of the building fund loan. The meeting will be followed by a free barbecue at around 1pm in Lighthouse grounds.

The ONE theme will continue during the following week, as there will be a different ONE deal in Lighthouse Café each day. 'Our first year has certainly been much busier than we expected', said café manager Maggie Rothe, 'but there must still be local people who have not been to see us, so the special offers running all week give you the excuse you need to sample our excellent coffee!'