Community spirit praised for church’s new minibus
THE Pastor of a Southport church has praised the community after money was raised for a new minibus when the old was cruelly torched by vandals.
The Lakeside Christian Centre has recently welcomed the new vehicle after the church’s previous minibus was attacked by arsonists in February.
The attack was described as “mindless and totally unprovoked” and left the centre unable to transport people to and from its various groups and services.
Among others, the bus was used by adults with learning difficulties and people who are otherwise left isolated.
After relying on borrowing vehicles from other churches for more than half a year, Lakeside now has its own vehicle again and its lead pastor, Reverend Richard Vernon, has thanked the goodwill of the community.
The new minibus was purchased through a combination of a small insurance payout, money raised by church-goers, and through a substantial donation by local businessman Craig Carloss, who owns various clubs in Southport town centre.
Rev Vernon said: “It’s great to be mobile again.
“We received so much support from the public when the old bus was set on fire and through the generosity and goodwill of others, we’ve been able to continue our busy programme through the week working with all sectors of our society.
“It was Craig who gave a lovely donation to us. He comes to play squash here and he was very saddened when he saw what had happened.
“It was only through the generosity of Craig and other people who have supported us that we have been able to buy the new minibus.
“We used to bus people in on a Sunday but we had to rely on others to help each other out by giving lifts and taking each other.
Speaking of the arson attack, Rev Vernon said that he still couldn’t understand why anyone would want to target them.
“It was an absolute shock. Really, you’re just left with the question of ‘why?’. What were they hoping to achieve?
“There was a lot of reaction on Facebook, particularly because there had been a lot of anti-social behaviour and vandalism at that time.
“A lot of people were saying what should happen to the people who had done it, but that wouldn’t have helped us really.
“Personally, I was incredibly touched by the goodwill of the community in the reactions, of people who wanted to support the work we do here.”
As well as the church, the centre runs a range of services for the community, including a preschool nursery, parent and toddler groups, fitness clubs and groups for adult with learning difficulties. It is also the base for Southport Food Bank.