A PENTECOSTAL church in Risca is celebrating its grand re-opening this weekend after undergoing a £73,000 makeover.

The Clyde Street Pentecostal Church has had extensive work done on it over the past two years, with the vast majority of the funding coming from its members' donations.

The church also received a grant of around £1,500 from the Welsh Church Fund.

Saturday sees the official re-opening of the church at 7pm to coincide with the harvest festival, and anyone is welcome to attend the event.

Church elder Robert Hood said: "It's absolutely brilliant, there's been so many people involved with it who've had to put up with a lot of dust and dirt, the congregation have been very graceful allowing it to go along."

The inside of the church has seen the biggest transformation, with a new classroom, toilets as well as new windows and doors which are just some parts of the building to benefit from the money.

"The inside of the church has been totally gutted and rebuilt, all the old decor has been taken out. The main hall is the showpiece, you've got to see it to believe it from what it was to what it has become," said Mr Hood.

The Elder also thanked all the parishioners who gave their time and money to help the church achieve its new look: "Without the congregation, we wouldn't have been able to raise the money," he said.