THE Island's newest church has become so popular it has outgrown its space at the West Wight Sports and Community Centre.

Just a year after forming, Kerith West Wight, which is part of the Kerith Community Church, a multi-site church in Bracknell, has decided to expand to Freshwater Memorial Hall from Sunday.

The church is run by Ben Britton, 33, who grew up in Newport and attended Carisbrooke High School. On leaving he gained a degree in theology at Moorlands College, Christchurch, and trained to be a secondary school teacher.

He said: "It's been an amazing experience.

"After I originally spoke to the County Press, I thought there would only be about four of us there for our first service.

"But we started with 19 people and by the end of the year our average Sunday attendance was 44.

"Next Wednesday (January 23) we are launching our first Alpha course, between 7pm and 9pm, where a group of us meet for a meal, also at the Memorial Hall, where we will watch a Christian video and talk about it afterwards.

"We currently meet on the first and third Sunday of each month at 10.30am and are hoping to launch every week from September.

"The community we are creating is one which is really easy to get into with a solid core, but we also recognise that in the West Wight the church might be a difficult place for people that have little or no experience of Christianity."

For more information, visit Kerith West Wight on Facebook or go to www.kerith.church