Historic Sunderland church once visited by Princess Diana that's getting a new lease of life - with cafe, restaurant and nursery next on the wish list

The MICC Chapel of Light International took over the Grade II-listed former St Columba’s Church in Cornhill Road in 2012.

It has since launched a social enterprise to make it financially self-sustainable and the premises have been renovated.

The charity has been running different activities for people in the community, including toddler groups, music clubs, employability training, a food bank and a gym, as well as providing computer and internet access to help support start-up businesses.However, the building – which was one of the places Princess Diana visited when she came to Sunderland in 1990 – was left with significant problems after it had previously been allowed to become run down.

Reverend Dr Peter Adegbie is leading the group, which aims to preserve the building’s long-term future.

Peter, originally from Nigeria, said: “When we bought the building, we didn’t know it was listed as a national treasure.

“In that building is the largest collection of James Eadie Reid art in the UK, numerous Sunderland glass artists have their work included in the stained-glass windows.

"There is a piece of stone from the 6th century that was part of the cottage where St Columba lived on the island of Iona.

“The BIC has opened up many doors for us with partner organisations and we are now looking to the future to see all our plans become a reality and for the building to be a key part of that.”

With the building empty for two years, the charity was keen to restore it to somewhere people would want to visit.

With the help of the North East BIC and the National Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic England, Benefact Trust and other funders, they created a development plan to allow the church to become a resource for Sunderland.

MICC also set up a Community Interest Company (CIC), The Friendship Place, to create a stay and play cafe. In January 2022 they secured funding to trial the initiative.

The group is renovating part of the premises to accommodate 50 mothers and children, rather than the 20 they could cater for before.

Currently on a break over the winter months, the group are working on renovating part of the premises that house the stay and play café to allow them to accommodate 50 mothers and children, rather than the 20 they could cater for before.

“We are trying to develop a multi-purpose hall that allows local businesses to rent space to operate from,” added Peter.

“We’d like to have a café or restaurant and a purpose-built creche and nursery.

“The BIC has put us in a very strong position, and we are building the partnerships with several organisations to allow us to achieve what we want to.

“We also received funding from the Heritage Lottery towards resilience tests of the charity and the building. This has allowed us to get to a position where we have planning approval from the council for some of the modifications we want to do to the listed building.

“We are now talking to funders and getting interested stakeholders involved, as well as seeing how we fit into the city council’s plans for the future.”

Kevin Marquis, social enterprise manager at the North East BIC, said: “It has been great to work with Peter and his colleagues in trying to secure the future of this magnificent building and to bring new projects into the heart of the community.”