Clergy from all over Britain will be meeting in Bradford's new Thornbury church and community centre on Thursday for a major conference on regeneration.

And within two weeks the £3 million complex will be in the spotlight again when it is officially opened by Princess Alexandra.

More than 60 delegates, made up of church leaders and members of congregations, will be at the one-day seminar to hear how the church, St Margaret's, has helped give the local community a shot in the arm.

Vicar, the Reverend Paul Hackwood, said: "The conference is about Bradford being in the forefront of this type of development.

"It's about how churches can engage with local communities to make them better places, as we have done in Thornbury where the centre is used by people of all religions.

"People are coming because they do work like ours on a smaller scale and they want to do more."

He said the new community centre had become a focal point for residents.

"It's certainly been much more successful than we expected it would," he said.

"We have done quite well in terms of finance and it's being used by local people, which is the key thing we wanted from it.

"And it has been quite positive for St Margaret's. Moving into the community centre has been a new lease of life with numbers growing slightly in the congregation."

The centre runs luncheon clubs and a variety of different projects including Artworks, which uses art to help regenerate the Newlands area, and Home Start, which offers support and respite to local families needing help.

Funding was provided for the complex by the Millennium Commission, the Diocese of Bradford, the European Union, local people, the Newlands Single Regeneration Budget and Bradford Council.

The delegates - some from as far away as Portsmouth - will hear from a number of speakers from the Government, regional regeneration agencies and firms of solicitors specialising in charity law.

Princess Alexandra, daughter of the late Duke and Duchess of Kent, will perform the official opening ceremony at the centre on April 13 at 1.30pm.

She was last in the city in 1967 when she opened the new £800,000 Central Library.

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