JCB has made a £10,000 donation to help a North Staffordshire church complete work on its £282,000 community hub.
The money from the Bamford Charitable Foundation will help the congregation complete landscaping and internal fit, including a disabled access, at the St James Community Hub in Newchapel.
Work still to be completed includes disabled parking, utility connections, the installation of boilers and a kitchen, and the construction of a covered way in an external courtyard.
When the single-storey hub is fully open it will provide a much-needed community venue for Christian and secular organisations in the semi-rural area served by St James C of E Church.
The congregation at the church – known as the “Church on the Hill” – has raised substantial funds towards the project, which is fully supported by the Diocese of Lichfield, but has struggled to find funding from other sources.
The church in Station Road, Newchapel, is just three miles from JCB's World Logistics Centre in Newcastle-under-Lyme and JCB Group Logistics General Manager Dave Parry paid a visit to hand over a cheque for £10,000.
Jan Slater, Secretary to the St James Community Hub Building Committee, said: “We are grateful to JCB for recognising the worth of our project and for seeing first hand its potential.
“We are a relatively small church in Newchapel with a big heart for our community. Funding for the Community Hub has been difficult to acquire in this time of recession.
“This donation from JCB has marked support for our Community Hub project from an industry giant.”