ONE of Preston's landmark churches could soon be ringing to the sound of ping-pong balls instead of bells.

St Augustine's, which has been closed for the last 20 years, is slowly being taken apart, with all its fixtures and fittings, some dating back to when the church was built in the 1840s, being auctioned off or re-housed.

For five years community bosses have been busy raising the £5million needed to transform the church building into a community centre and now the cash has been topped up by the lottery to the tune of almost £2million. One group moving into the centre will be the English Table Tennis Association and part of it has been designed specifically for the Preston and South Ribble branch.

The construction work is due to start in ten weeks, and will take 15 months to finish. The whole church will be completely demolished except for the landmark towers over the entrance.

Eventually a four storey building will replace St Augustine's, and is set to feature a fitness suite, creche, computer rooms and a conference centre.

Father Michael Murphy, parish priest of St Augustine's for six years, said: "I am delighted the resources of the parish are being put into the development of something which will benefit the local community."