A RELIGIOUS group has held an open day to show off its new building.

The Kingdom Hall, in Salters Lane South, Darlington, was built in a matter of days by Jehovah's Witnesses who volunteered to help from across the North of England.

At the weekend, the building was opened up to the local community - who may have been baffled when they saw hundreds of workers on the site over the course of three weekends last summer.

Steven Campbell, a member of one of the three congregations that use the hall, explained that the building was paid for with money collected from the 200 Jehovah's Witnesses in Darlington.

The previous Kingdom Hall was built in 1972 at a cost of £6,000 and hosted almost 10,000 meetings.

Last year, the congregation decided it would be more economical to build a new Kingdom Hall rather than repair the ageing building.

Members moved out in May 2005 and the old building was demolished.

Worked started on the foundations later that month and volunteers laid the boundary walls.

The main building work started on the first weekend in August during which the timber frame was put up, walls and insulation completed and electric and water pipes fitted.

The second weekend saw more than 400 volunteers flood to the site and complete the plumbing, joinery, doors, windows, suspended ceiling and exterior work.

During the third weekend in August, the decorators and carpet team moved into the building, virtually completing all the work. The car park was finished later and the first meetings were held at the start of October.

Mr Campbell said: "We borrowed the garden next door and set up tents to feed the volunteers.

The whole thing cost £143,500 as we got the labour for free."

The building has a capacity of 154 and is shared by the three congregations in the town.