CHURCH Square was filled as hundreds came together for a service which saw a ‘prayer for St Helens’ read.

Church in the Square saw worshippers mark both the borough’s 150th anniversary and the ‘birthday’ of the church, Pentecost Sunday.

Organiser hailed the event as giving churches in the town a rare chance to worship God together on such a scale.

The morning saw 16 churches come together for the town centre service, which was made up of celebration, prayer and worship.

The event was opened with a welcome from Reverends Simon and Louise Moore, of the Sutton Churches Team.

This was followed by a worship band which was drawn together specially for the event from a number of St Helens churches.

During the service, new mayor, Cllr Pat Ireland was welcomed to her first civic engagement, along with mayoress Lynn Glover.

Cllr Ireland addressed the crowd, highlighting the contribution churches make to the well-being of the borough through the many activities they undertake.

Following this she spent time touring the event, meeting volunteers and exhibitors.

Then a talk from guest speaker Rev Canon Dr Ellen Loudon from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral was given, about the biblical account of the coming of God’s Holy Spirit on the church on the first Pentecost Sunday.

And the act of worship was concluded by prayers of blessing from Canon Tom Neylon, of St Julie’s Church and Reverend Harry Wood, of St Thomas Church Eccleston.

The service also marked the launch of A Prayer for St Helens, the result of the year-long campaign Prayer 150 to celebrate the town’s anniversary.

People of all ages from primary schoolchildren, to elderly residents contributed their dreams and hopes for St Helens over the coming years. These were taken and crafted into this special prayer which was launched on video spoken by 16 different St Helens residents.

A framed copy of the prayer was presented to the mayor.

Following the prayer, church leaders gathered on stage to make a public declaration of commitment to work together for the well-being of the borough’s residents.

There was also a lunch and a Kids' Zone on the day of celebration.

Event manager, Ste Anders said: "Church in the Square was an incredible event to help put together, bringing together 16 churches (and more people besides), training over 40 volunteers and creating and organising an event infrastructure with full stage and screen rig in a central location, it was both a great challenge and joy to be involved with"

Reverend Chris Daniel-McKeigue, vicar of St Andrews & St Marks, who conceived the event, added: “It felt important to do something as church in the town in celebration! Over a year ago it was a tiny seed of an idea!

"Arriving early on Sunday morning to see tents and stage being set up was amazing - it was happening!

"This was going to be church - inside out! The people did come - to be together, worship together, to celebrate together. It was awesome! One God, one church!”

And Reverend Philip Fell, minister of the Christian Life Centre and co-ordinator of Prayer 150, said: “The dream of a prayer by St Helens people, for St Helens people, which we first thought of as the anniversary year started, has been realised today with the launch of the video prayer.

"Churches are committed to the life and well-being of the Borough and this event helped to demonstrate that so effectively.”