PROTESTERS failed to dampen spirits yesterday at the opening of a new community centre in Accrington.

The Hyndburn Voluntary and Community Resource Centre, Cannon Street, cost almost £1million to build, and has taken years of planning and construction.

The former St James' School has been restored, keeping many of its original features, and will now house numerous community groups.

Two protesters welcomed guests with placards, saying the money spent on the facility should have gone to other areas of Accrington.

But at the centre's official opening yesterday two sisters, were on hand to praise the transformation.

Connie Kenyon, 90, and Marjorie MacArthur, 86, attended the school in the 1020s.

Connie, who now lives in Nelson, said: "I can't recognise it for the same place. It's lovely.

"I started at the infant school and came down to the larger school. The headmaster very good and it was a happy school.

"This should be a good facility, and I'm glad they're not pulling it down."

The centre will now be run by a volunteer board, headed by chairman Geof Coglan, and a number of tenants are all set to move in, including the Hyndburn Used Furniture Store.

Mr Coglan said: "I think it's a job brilliantly done. This building has cost close to a million pounds and that's money well spent."

And the Mayor of Hyndburn Councillor Miles Parkinson gave the event an official seal of approval.

He said: "On a sunny day you can look out of the windows and it doesn't look a deprived area. But you only have to travel a short distance to find the problems in Hyndburn.

"This is such a wonderful place to be, where people are going to spend their time to improve the borough."

Not everybody was happy about the development. Joan Pilkington, chairman of West Accrington Residents' Association, said: "A million pounds has been spent on this building - money that was meant for the regeneration of some of the worst areas of Hyndburn."