Refurbished church opens its doors again

The £400,000 work was carried out to provide disabled access to the Dalkeith church as part of work to make the building more welcoming.

On Sunday, the congregation returned to Eskbank Road after six months at King’s Park Primary School.

The church will be officially re-opened by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland on September 25.

And the Rev. Keith Mack is glad to be home again.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted. It has been a long process but we have got there. I’m just keen to get going back in our home.

“We had been saving for a long while, but for the last year we pushed it from just over £100,000 to £400,000 through fundraising.

“The work started in February. It’s looking great now – from where we were to where we are now is incredible.

“We didn’t have disabled access to the front of the church which we were never happy about, so work started with that.

“We then had under floor heating put in, and we took out the brick wall at the entrance and had a glass wall installed in that space. Now it’s more open and welcoming.”

Mr Mack wants to welcome as many locals as possible into the refurbished church.

He said: “We want it to be used by the community. It’s not just a Sunday morning building. It’s for everyone in Dalkeith to use all week. That was part of the reason for doing this – to open the church up to the community so local groups could feel that it is their building as well.”

A special concert will be held on Friday, September 23, followed by an open day on September 24.