A CHURCH has 40 new seats for its ‘warm space’ days thanks to a generous donation.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, the Buckland Road Baptist Church in Parkstone opens its doors to people between 10.30am and 2.30pm.

Its magnificent Victorian heating system keeps people physically warm and the friendship offered keeps people warm on the inside.

Meanwhile, Douch Family Funeral Directors’ Ives and Shand branch, in Ashley Road, was refurbishing its ceremony room and had 40 smart spare seats.

Knowing the church because of funerals it has organised there, it donated them.

Zoe Grimley, who runs the ‘warm space’, said: “We launched the warm space days in October and they’ve been very popular.

“There is always a safe, warm space in our back room where we have tea, coffee, biscuits, and a soup and roll.

People pop in for a chat and it helps those who are lonely.

“You wouldn’t think by looking at our church from the front that we’d have such a large area at the back, but we have pool tables and even a stage for performances.

“However, we were short of chairs and those donated are perfect and they are very well used. We are very grateful and invite everyone to come along.”

Jonathan Stretch, from Douch Family Funeral Directors, said they were delighted to help.

“Our branches are being constantly updated and in some cases completely rebuilt,” he said. “With our Parkstone branch Ives and Shand we bought some new chairs for our ceremony room.

“It seemed fitting to donate the old ones to the church, which does a great deal of good work for the community.”

Buckland Road Baptist Church was built in 1880 and services are held on Sundays at 11am.