A church wants to bring “help and hope” to Watford after moving into its new £1.8million building.

The Wellspring Church Centre, in Lower High Street, is the new home of Watford Community Church, after spending the last 20 years at Watford Grammar School for Girls.

The building, on the site of the former Watford Springs swimming pool, boasts a two-storey glass front with a spire on its roof.

The window, which overlooks Watford Fields, features a cross created with stained glass panels.

The auditorium, which seats about 170 people and features a drum kit and large sound mixing board, is on the first floor, with a cafe on the ground floor and there are also several activity rooms.

In the cafe, there are sofas, books and computers with internet access.

Services began in November, though there is still some building work to be finished before the grand opening in March.

This will mark the completion of “phase one” of the building, with plans in place to extend it by another third in the future.

“It's very much a community facility,” said Senior Minister Tim Roberts. “It's a church centre, not a community centre, but at the same time we run a job club here and have English lessons.”

It was in March 2003 that a preacher came to the church to “talk about wells and springs” and told Tim the church would have a new building.

“We were quite happy at the girls' grammar,” said the father-of-three from Park Avenue, Bushey. “It wasn't for two years until we started to look for different buildings. We put in bids for different buildings but none of them really fitted.”

Then in 2006, the council was looking for a “self-funding community group” to take on some of the Watford Springs land.

He said: “It was an open bidding process. There was nothing underhand. We put the best bid we could together. We still have to pay ground rent.”

And during the building work, a well was found on the site that originated from the Benskins brewery.

“There's no doubt for me this is something God has done,” said Tim, who represents the church as an active member of Christians Across Watford. “I didn't wake up one day and think I wanted to raise £1.8million and run a building.

“We're just beginning. We just feel like this establishes us in the town and in a way that's more prominent.

“This shows we're really serious about helping people in the community. Our aim is to create a space where people can meet and find help.”

“The overarching thing is I want the town to see this as good news for the community. We want to bring help and hope to people and that's what the building is here for.”

The grand opening of the Wellspring Centre will take place at 3pm on Saturday, March 19.