A SPIRITUALIST church with and long and interesting history is hoping to get some well-needed restoration work done and is asking members of the Furness society to help decide what needs to be done first.

The Spiritualist Church on Dalkeith Street, Barrow, reopens tonight and will ask members to decide what restoration work needed to be done as a matter of urgency.

Chris Waddington, president of the church recognises the amount of work that needs to be done on the building.

She said: "The building has such a lot of history and we need to decide what is going to happen with it.

"The people need to let us know what they want.

"The Spiritualist National Union have said they will do what is best for the building and if that means finding new premises then that is what we will do. It will be a shame to let this building go."

The church was built in 1893 and many people still refer to it as the Lyceum.

The church used to hold a lot of services including Sunday Schools.

Miss Waddington would like to see the church get back up and running like it used to.

She said: "It has been closed for a long time but I am looking forward to getting it back up and running."

The psychological hall will hold a divine service tonight at 7 pm. Doors will open at 6 pm to give people a chance to look around the building and decide for themselves what work needs to be done.

Angela McInnes will travel from Blackpool tonight to perform the service.

She is an officiant of the Spiritual National Union and a well-established platform medium, whose aim it is to prove that we do live on after we die.

It was Mrs McInnes that taught Miss Waddington a lot of what she knows today.

After tonight's service, the church will hold a divine service with a different medium every week.

The services will be on Tuesday's from 7 pm until 8.30pm.

Although divine services vary slightly between the many different spiritualist church organisations, on the whole, a service at a Spiritualist Church is quite similar to any Christian based church, although the main difference being they may or may not refer to God or Jesus.

Generally, a spiritualist service will contain:

Hymns - Mostly churches sing traditional hymns.

A Reading - The speaker - generally a spiritualist medium - will read a short passage from a thought-provoking text.

An address - The speaker will give an address relating to the reading they gave, the medium will not usually have practised the address, as it is inspired by the spirit realm.

A demonstration of clairvoyance - Evidence given to the continuation of life after death. The demonstration is held within the congregation, it is by chance if the medium has any communication for you.

In addition, many church services will also include:

Healing thoughts - A quite time for you to send out loving/healing thoughts to those in need of healing. Some churches have a list (healing book), healing thoughts are sent out to the names written within the book.

Dalkeith church has both a healing book and a healing tree where people can hang on the names of those they want to send healing thoughts to.

Quiet time - Allows inner reflection for a brief time.

Dalkeith Street Church is registered with the Spiritualist National Union.

The SNU supports and has helped to unify around 340 Spiritualist churches and centres throughout the UK.

There are over 2700 individual spiritualists who pay an annual fee for formal membership of the company. The church on Dalkeith Street being one of these.

Throughout the country, the union supports the training of spiritual healers, spirit mediums, public speakers and teachers.

The company aims to promote the religion and philosophy of Spiritualism as based on the Seven Principles:

1. The Fatherhood of God.

2. The Brotherhood of Man.

3. The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels.

4. The Continuous Existence of the Human Soul.

5. Personal Responsibility.

6. Compensation and Retribution Hereafter for all the Good and Evil Deeds done on Earth.

7. Eternal Progress Open to every Human Soul.

Other uses for the church over the years:

Furness Catholic Amateur Boxing Club.

Sunday School.

Tabletop sale store.

Vintage record sale store.

Held youth group parties and celebrations.

Hosted dances and musical events.

The corner building shares the late Victorian building plot with what was known as the Lyceum Hall.

Many still refer to the church as the Lyceum.

The building has a pair of stones on either side of the door which is dated August 7, 1893.

A short article in the Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser on Thursday, August 10, 1893, said: "On Monday afternoon two memorial stones were laid in connection with the new hall which the Spiritualists of Barrow are erecting at the corner of Dalkeith and Buccleuch Streets."