The Church of the Nazarene has celebrated 30 years in Largs with international visitors joining them to commemorate the prestigious event.

A range of activities has taken place throughout July, including a nostalgic beach mission event with live music and entertainment, dinner and refurbishing the place of worship in Aitken Street.

Reverend Trish Laird explained that over the last decade, the Largs Church of Nazarene has provided help to several Nazarene projects around the world including Mozambique twice, Romania twice, and Swaziland.

And to commemorate the 30th anniversary, churches from the USA under their Work and Witness Programme have provided a helping hand at Largs, as Nazarenes from Florida, Alaska, Michigan and Ohio made it across for the anniversary.

A special church service, which included eight ordained ministers, was held on Sunday 19 July, and the church was full to capacity.

The celebration was complete with dinner at the Brisbane House Hotel in Largs, and a night of listening to the pipes played by David Hannah, who now leads the work of the Largs Kids Holiday Club run by the Largs Churches Together.

The American visitors have provided assistance in renovating the church - including the sanctuary and pastor’s office which have been refurbished.

Trish said: “The church exists to be a blessing to the community. We started off the week with the open air beach mission, and then we finished up at St Mary’s and had a lovely time. From there on the Sunday we had a packed church service. We had an evening meal at the Brisbane House Hotel with 88 people in total.“ “Largs Church of Nazarene enjoys a good relationship with all the other churches. We love the churches in Largs and very much the community.” “The whole of our church has been re-wired with new lighting and the outside has been painted. There are new carpets throughout. We have used local tradesmen as we believe in the importance of keeping things local, and keeping Largs as a happy family place to visit and bring families.” Trish Laird is also hoping to write up a history of the church in Aitken Street, and has been compiling details from all the church minutes. She added: “I have the last minutes of the Largs Evangelistic Mission when the church was handed over to the Largs Church of Nazerene which stated, ‘after 183 years in Largs,’ which is quite remarkable when you think about it.” And with the renovation work taking place over recent weeks, Rev. Laird added that she wanted to thank both the Largs Police and the North Ayrshire Council for all their assistance and help in recent weeks, and said: “It is a great community spirit in Largs, and we are so glad to play an important part in that.