It only took a year to build and finally opened on September 14, 1968.

Now five decades on, St Andrew's Methodist Church in Bushey Heath is a thriving part of the community.

On September 16, 170 people celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The guests came from far and wide including Scotland, Wales and even Australia and their time at St Andrew’s spanned the whole 50 years.

A few had been present at the stone laying; some were married at St Andrew’s; many attended the church as children and were returning with their young families.

One notable guest was Ken Pettit, who was the chairman of the building committee which planned and had oversight of the building work - which began in November 1967.

He recalls that one of the most difficult decisions to make was whether to have pews or chairs: This particular meeting started in the afternoon and went on until midnight and the pews won.

But in 2004, the now outdated pews were replaced with more versatile chairs.

The celebration service was opened by the current Minister Revd Richard Lowson and was led by a former Minister Revd Chris Jones and his wife Revd Margaret Jones.

The event included a slide show with photographs of church life throughout 50 years, as well as a boisterous reunion of the old youth club.

As well as the weekly church services including a monthly Breakfast Church, the premises are used for many different activities, such as coffee mornings; keep fit, dancing, bridge, badminton, French classes, children’s parties, film club, brownies and rainbows.