The 200 Mill Hill Synagogue members who attended a Friday night dinner with the Chief Rabbi and Lady Sacks to mark the shul's 60th anniversary were given additional cause for celebration.
Shul chair Jerome Reback used the occasion to announce that a long-planned redevelopment had finally been given the green light.

Mr Reback told the gathering that following a major fundraising drive, sufficient pledges had been received to enable work to start on the £3.6 million programme. A community centre would offer dedicated youth and education facilities and a multi-function auditorium/hall. The plan was also to transform the 30-year-old synagogue into "a building more in keeping with the demands of our extending community".

Construction is scheduled to begin after the High Holy-Days and is expected to take up to a year to complete. Lord Sacks praised Mill Hill's minister, Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, and his wife Chani for "developing Mill Hill over the past 17 years into one of the fastest growing communities in the United Synagogue".

The shul has over 1,600 members, including 1,100 families and 400 children under the age of 10.