WORSHIPPERS said a final farewell to Cinderford’s ’tin tabernacle’ church and schoolroom on Sunday after nearly 130 years of worship in the prefab building.

Twice-monthly Sunday afternoon services moved from the Bilson Mission building to the nearby Hanover Court complex in 2016 because of safety concerns.

A final, outdoor service was to have taken place outside the “temporary” building on Sunday afternoon but the rain and forecast storms prompted a last-minute transfer to Hanover Court.

It is one of just a handful of ‘tin’ church buildings left in the area, alongside Edge End Methodist church.

Opening the service, Vicar of Cinderford, Rev Mike Barnsley, said: “It is a celebration of Bilson Mission and everything that Bilson Mission has meant in the community for coming up to 130 years.

“We both celebrate Bilson Mission and also express sadness at where we are in the history of that building.

“I hope that people remember all we want to celebrate about Bilson Mission but that we don’t confuse the flame and the lamp.

“The flame burns on in this place and in our hearts.”

He said that after “much prayer and discussion and with much regret” the parish church council of St Stephen’s, Cinderford had accepted that the mission and schoolroom would not reopen for worship. There were issues relating to wood rot in the floor and frames but, after extensive conversations with architects, Historic England and the Diocese of Gloucester, it was decided that a complete rebuild would be necessary.

The cost of rebuilding the mission would probably be in six figures, at a time when the parish is looking to raise some £75,000 for roof repairs at St Stephen’s.

Around a dozen worshippers used the mission at the time of its closure, but services at Hanover Court now regularly attract more than 20.

The site, in Upper Bilson Road, will be returned to landowners, the Forestry Commission.

The mission started as a gospel service for travellers in Trafalgar Wood around 1880 which transferred to a building near the Upper Bilson Inn in 1891 and at the end of the century it was moved to Bilson Green.