NEW light was shed on the humble beginnings of Radipole United Reformed Church, Weymouth, after old publications resurfaced.

Priced at 1s and 6d, the 1948 year book of 'Radipole Congregational Church' details how this first incarnation of the current church was built from a starting sum of just £27, 7s and 2d.

The book, one of several rediscovered recently, mentions the visit of Chinese academic Professor Lee Hsin Lung from the West China Union University, Chengdu.

There is also a page dedicated to greetings for the new church from well-wishers in Tasmania, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Germany, China, Holland and the USA.

The publication features a black and white photograph, showing the first church's official congregation on opening day in July 1906.

The tin building was later demolished in 1962, after the area's second church was built nearby in 1954.

That new building was established as the current incarnation of the area's church in 1972.

Another rediscovered book was entitled: Fifty Glorious Years, 1905-1955 Radipole Congregational Church. In it, writers revealed that the approximate cost of the land the church was built on was £600 and a caretaker was appointed at first to earn 'not more than five shillings a month'.

The church was also revealed to be a hive of activity during the Second World War as a centre for refugees from the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, a fire watch headquarters and a servicemen's club where their socks were darned and shirts mended.

The church's main minister, The Rev Jim Thorneycroft, said: "The church plan mentioned in Fifty Glorious Years tells the story of a small group of members from Gloucester Street Congregational Church in Weymouth who decided to start meeting in a rented room at the Pig and Whistle pub in Spa Road.

"They soon outgrew those premises and a decision was made to purchase some land on the corner of Spa Road and Roman Road and build a corrugated tin and timber building on it, which was opened on July 4, 1906.

"It flourished, until, in 1954, it was decided to build the present church and later replace the old corrugated building with a new hall."

He added that the rediscovered booklets were a 'fascinating insight' into the church's past.