Darjeeling, July 24: The army has decided to remove an officer?s club located in an abandoned church at Jalapahar and open its doors to civilians from all denominations.

The British troops stationed in Jalapahar Cantonment had built the beautiful Gothic structure (then known as St Luke Church) with its 60-ft spire during the 1880s. The church was closed in 1948, when the British left India.

The ?barren building? was subsequently handed over to the Military Engineering Service in September 1948. Later, a portion of the church was converted to a godown, while the rest of the space was used by the Kanchenjunga Officers? Institute ? essentially a clubhouse for army personnel.

Now, with support from Lt Gen. Thomas Mathew, gen. officer commanding of Trishakti Corps, the place is being reconverted into a church. ?We have even managed to bring some of the old furniture that had been auctioned off to the Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan,? said Col. (retd) H.K. Ghissing, who is supervising the renovation work carried out by the mountain division. ?Many churches here have also donated a lot of items.?

In a unique move, the renamed and refurbished St Luke Brigade Church (see picture by Suman Tamang), scheduled to be inaugurated tomorrow, will welcome people from different denominations of the Christian faith.

Usually, each denomination has a different church. ?We will, however, invite priests from all the churches so that everyone can come and pray here,? said Ghissing.

St Luke Brigade Church is a Protestant church.

?The Britishers never mixed with the local people and when they went away there was no one left to use the church. We want to ensure that the same thing does not happen when this brigade moves away from Darjeeling (which is imminent),? said Ghissing.