There's exhilaration in Headcorn this week with news the community has successfully exchanged contracts to buy the 150-year-old redundant Methodist Church in the village.

The church was closed for worship in January 2021 because of a diminishing congregation and there were immediate fears that the building would be lost to a housing developer as its trustees put it up for auction.

Villagers rallied around to form the Heart of Headcorn campaign group with a view to purchasing the building, which dates from 1867, as a centre for community use.

The almost two-year campaign has seen many twists and turns as the group first sought to have the church listed as a community asset and then to raise funds – but now all the hard work has paid off.

Last Thursday, in a deal arranged by Girlings the solicitors, the Heart of Headcorn, which is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) exchanged contracts for the purchase with the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes, which owns the building.

Completion is in a month's time.

Bella Mansfield, spokesman for the Heart of Headcorn, said: “It hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park but we are grateful that this building cam now recommence serving the local community."

But before the church can be opened for use, Heart of Headcorn will have to carry out essential repairs – among them dealing with a hole in the roof. That's expected to take at least another month.

They perhaps hope to open to the public at Christmas.

Organisers have already received many requests from community groups wishing to meet in the building, including three musical groups, a parent and toddler group, drama club, dog-training, philosophy society, creative writing groups, a youth club, exercise classes for those with mobility problems, a sustainability project and bereavement and loneliness support groups.

They also plan to hold classes covering basic computing, maths, functional sills, English speaking classes and employability training.

The building will also be used to exhibit some of Headcorn’s historical archives, with the support of the Local History Society.

Mrs Mansfield said: "We have invited our Methodist friends to come back on a Sunday morning, mindful that without the Methodists, this building would never have existed!”

The purchase has been funded by Headcorn Parish Council which has taken out a public works loan to finance the deal and by several other grant awards.

The group had already received many individual donations and had raised funds through holding events such as the Headcorn History Pageant and a Community Silly Walk, along with a singathon with villagers posting videos of their own musical performances on YouTube.

Mrs Mansfield said: "I think the tremendous support we received for the various fundraising events helped convince people that we were serious in our ambition.

"We owe everything to the people of Headcorn who supported us from the start and kept the faith during the most challenging of times.”

Fundraising is continuing to help with the cost of repair and renovation of the building.

There will be a bric-a-brac sale on Saturday, November 5, in Headcorn Village Hall, from 10am to 3pm.

A new Heart of Headcorn website is about to go live and will provide details about room hire, links to society websites, signposting to support services and even budget recipes for struggling families.

Treasurer Michael Rice admitted: “We weren’t sure if we would ever see this day.

"We started our Go Fund Me campaign with just £5 – but Headcorn is a special place where anything is possible.”