SIXTY years ago it was a thriving church and community centre for a devoted congregation of 3,000 people.

Now, after being allowed to plunge into years of dereliction, the historic Bethesda Methodist Chapel has been restored almost to its former glory.

The Grade II-listed chapel, which dates to 1799, opened its doors to dignitaries and supporters on Saturday to celebrate the completion of the £600,000 second phase of the renovations.

Dr Jennifer Freeman, below, is director of the Historic Chapels Trust, which acquired the chapel in 2002.

She said: "People are absolutely thrilled with the progress. It will be fantastic to have it fully restored; the return of an amazing chapel back to Stoke-on-Trent.

"This is one of the biggest projects we have delivered."

Phase two, which started in August last year, has seen the chapel's decorative ceiling restored – complete with replica plaster roses and centrepiece pendant.

Four stained-glass windows have been returned to their original positions, including the famous Light of the World window which had been on show at the Potteries Museum.

An original mahogany pulpit with a double flight of stairs has been repaired.

And the Albion Street building has also been repointed, with rotten and decaying wood replaced and the upper balcony fully reopened.

Friends of Bethesda, deputy chairman, John Booth, said: "We are getting closer to having it returned to exactly how it started.

"Every time people come they are amazed at the difference. It is an incredibly important, historic building. It was a cathedral of Methodism."

Phase one covered broadly structural improvements. The third and final phase, due to begin over the next two or three years, will see the introduction of modern services such as toilets, heating, sound and visual systems and disabled access.

It is hoped the chapel can eventually be used for weddings, christenings, exhibitions and business conferences.

The total bill is expected to be about £2.5 million, with funding from private and state enterprises including English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Union.

Guests on Saturday were treated to an organ recital and songs from both Stoke-on-Trent and Biddulph male voice choirs.

Speakers included historian and Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Tristram Hunt, and Sir Alan Beith MP, chairman of the Historic Chapels Trust.

Mr Hunt dubbed the chapel a "galleon of the Potteries".

He said: "It's a great thing to have this monument of civic and spiritual pride restored so successfully.

"It is a place of memories and meaning for the city, not just a show of Victorian civic pride but an example of a non-conformist era.

"Just as every schoolchild has to see the Staffordshire Hoard, they should now also be going over the road to see Bethesda."

Potteries historian and Sentinel columnist Fred Hughes, chairman of the Friends of Bethesda Chapel, said: "The final step will be getting people to actually use it but I think that part will be relatively easy. We get 300 people coming to monthly open days already and that's just to look at it."

Saturday's celebration marked a dramatic turnaround for the chapel, which decayed to the brink of ruin following its closure in 1985.

Congregations of 3,000 declined steadily after the 1950s as rows of nearby terraced housing were demolished.

The chapel was bought by a developer in the 1990s but progress stalled because of the building's protected status.

Since renovations began it has been visited by tourists from as far as Australia and will welcome visitors from the American Victorian Society later this year.