A MASSIVE £820,000 investment will provide a home to an East End charity.

A partnership between Clyde Gateway and the Church of Scotland is bringing further investment to the Bridgeton community that will provide a new home to the locally-based charity Church House.

The charity, which was formed in 1942, is run by two full-time members of staff and 30 volunteers with its operations governed by a board of local residents, members of the Bridgeton, St Francis in the East Church and the Glasgow Presbytery of the Church of Scotland.

It currently operates from a rundown and isolated old church building in Boden Street providing a range of services which address poverty, deprivation and a lack of opportunity for young people living in Bridgeton, Camlachie and Dalmarnock.

The new partnership and investment has enabled a contribution of £671,000 from Clyde Gateway and £150,000 from the Church of Scotland and will see the charity relocate to a purpose-built new Family Support Centre the heart of the Bridgeton community.

The new building will sit on the site of the former janitor’s home and dining hall at the former Queen Mary Street School which closed in 2009.

It will offer a multi-use space. multimedia suite, training kitchen and counselling rooms.

And thanks to a direct link to the adjacent Bridgeton, St Francis in the East Church, will also be able to access existing facilities including a drama/music room and games hall and so allow the charity to expand its range of services as well as increase the number of clients it can reach out to.

Ian Manson, the Chief Executive of Clyde Gateway, said: “The local community are quite rightly very proud of the role Church House has played over the past 70-plus years and we are delighted to be able to respond positively to their request to provide a new better-located home that is fit for modern-day needs.

“Our financial contribution has come through the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and its support will ensure a physical transformation through the partial demolition and partial refurbishment of what had sadly become a derelict eyesore."

The Reverend Howard Hudson has been the Minister at St Francis in the East Church since 1984 and is the convener of the Church House board.

He said: “The current building in Boden Street was ideally located when the charity began its work in 1942 but the large scale demolitions of the 1970s and 80s have left it quite isolated for quite some time now although the services remain popular and well-used.

"There has been a long-term ambition among the board to see Church House find a new home and I’m delighted that Clyde Gateway and the Church of Scotland have forged this strong partnership.

“There’s a genuine belief locally that the regeneration efforts underway are making a real difference to the area, not just in making it look and feel better, but in restoring a sense of pride and purpose.

"Local residents are really keen to get involved in what is happening and what is really pleasing about this particular partnership is that the ownership and management of the new facility will sit directly with the local church and community who will determine how it will be best used and run.

“It really should make a big difference to children, young people and families in our community and Clyde Gateway must be commended again for the way they have gone about things and for keeping good on their promises of legacy.”

The demolition work at the former janitor’s house got underway at the beginning of November following which work will begin on the refurbishment of the dining hall and construction of the new single-story building with an anticipated completion date of May 2016.