A CELEBRATORY service was held at Alcester Baptist Church to mark its 375th anniversary.

During the event, held on Saturday, May 16, the church was open between 10.30am and 4pm for the annual flower festival, which focused on the theme of freedom.

Children from St Nicholas CE Primary School and Our Lady’s Roman Catholic Primary School each performed a short musical act which demonstrated the progress of religious freedom.

During the event, around £600 was raised for the Thailand Freedom Bakery Appeal, a project to provide women with skills to escape from the sex trade.

The appeal is part of the dignity campaign run by the Baptist Mission Agency, the oldest modern mission society in the world dating back to 1792.The organisation fights gender based violence.

Reverend Martin Mills said: "It was a very successful event, we have the flower show every year but we wanted to do something much more, pull out all the stops.

"We had our popular food festival so more people came through, from our perspective it was a very successful event."

Members of Alcester Court Leet attended a service held on Friday, May 15.

The Alcester-based church was part of the first wave of Baptist churches founded in 1640, less than 30 years after the start of the movement.