A CHAPEL which dates back to the mid-19th century will reopen this weekend following extensive refurbishment.

Middleton Chapel is the new home to Ryedale Evangelical Church after an anonymous benefactor bought the building for use by the congregation last year.

Reverend William Horsburgh said members had previously met at schools and public halls across Ryedale but were looking for a permanent base to worship.

"The Ryedale Evangelical Church was set up 30 years ago and since then we have met at different places but have always wanted our own chapel," he added, "We had looked at Middleton Chapel but the price was out of our reach until last year when God made it possible for us to buy the chapel when it came back on the market substantially cheaper and it was bought for us."

Rev Horsburgh said they were extremely grateful for the donation but had quickly realised there was a great deal of work ahead of them.

He said: "There were all sorts of problems both inside and out and we are not a large group with endless funds.

"The front door fell off but incredibly someone volunteered to pay for that and a lot of the work was done by church members."

Rev Horsburgh said some of the work had been done professionally, including a new ceiling in the main chapel.

"All the tradesmen are local and have been amazingly generous and good with us," he added.

"Other work, including the kitchen, has been done by ourselves and it has been an incredible experience working together.

"There really has been a feeling that God lead us to this chapel and there has been tremendous support from the local community with people popping in to see what we are doing."

Rev Horsburgh said as a result of the local interest they had decided to hold an open day this Saturday, November 28 from 2pm.

"We wanted to invite people to come and see what we have done to the chapel and also share their memories and photos about the building and its history," he added.

"Eventually our aim is to have a fully functioning church with Sunday services and prayer meetings along with weekly coffee mornings and toddler groups."

"We have lots of ideas that we would like to explore and now the building is ready to open but we start to progress them."

For more information contact Rev William Horsburgh on 01751 476383 or go to www.middletonchapel.com