A Potted History of The Church of Our Lady and St.Thomas of Canterbury From October 1965 to June 2015

Compiled by Colin Hinton. (One time Editor of the Parish Magazine - Endeavour)

I know I am on a good hiding to nothing here, because having read the history of the church I produced when I was Editor of the Endeavour Parish Magazine (started October 1965 – Last issue March 2011) Jan Janoszka, (our new pastoral assistant) has asked me to follow up with any other events I remember other than the Parish priests mentioned in the History (This will be on the Parish Web site from November 2015). To help me I have selected one or two of the magazines for each year and produced a selection which leaves me open to cries of how come you mentioned this parish event and not another and you have mentioned what Jack did but not Jill.

A parish history is like the history of a kingdom, the dates and the Kings and Queens or priests are recorded but not the poor old foot soldiers who make up the country or parish. Having produced the History in 2005 I have written a bit more for parishioners to read. (All of the histories were sold but copies may be read at the presbytery or contact me on 020 8954 6863)

When I first suggested a parish magazine Dear Fr. Peter, the first, was here but before we could get going Fr Kenny arrived. Father was a great organiser and The Parish Council was formed in 1965 followed by the Parish magazine and then in 1966 planned giving was started.

When I first started the magazine, those stalwarts of the parish Kate and Tess Travers, together with Betty O’Farrell and Doug Hamilton ably assisted Shirley and me until they married and left the parish. I had a secretary friend at work who typed out the stencil and then we would run it off on the Gestetner Duplicator at Optrex where I worked.

Not many parishioners will know what a duplicator was, being use to pressing a button and out flow the copies. Instead of being typed on paper the words were cut into a thin plastic sheet which was then with great difficulty layed round a drum, one then manually turned the handle and ink was squeezed on to the paper. This at the time was top in house printing technology! 750 magazines per month were produced in this manner and we both suffered with inky fingers and as will be seen in the magazines the sheet often got creased or worse still, split and had to be re cut all over again. This and the folding and stapling of the magazines every month took us all many hours.

When I came to the parish in 1958 one of the first people I met was Nellie Vincent who was a formidable lady, in a very nice way, and ran the Union of Catholic mothers who were involved in everything in the parish and we all knew who would organise teas if they were needed. I would guess that at least 50 ladies belonged to the UCM at that time. Chairman of the Parish Committee was the hard working and very conscientious Peter Caldwell. It was Peter who spoke up for those in the Parish who objected when lay people were allowed to give out Holy Communion as well as the priest. He spoke at one Mass and then left. The fact that the first person was a lady, Maureen Stephenson, added fuel to the fire. Maureen, a nurse, was one of the most active members of the parish and was also largely responsible for starting St. Lukes Hospice in Harrow View before it moved to Kenton.

I am pleased to say Peter stayed on the parish council and went to mass, making sure he went to the priest for Holy Communion as indeed did many more, some of us made sure we went to Maureen but eventually there was still a queue for the priest while Maureen stood ready to serve any who would go to her, it seems strange now when all queues are equal. Also a very active and popular member at that time was Peter’s wife, Jean, who sadly died at a very young age in 1981

1 In the first few months of the magazine it was reported that St. Bernard’s church in Northolt was opened and one of my favourite poems, reported to be the shortest poem ever, appeared.

The shortest poem in the world is dedicated to Flees- Adam Ad’em

In issue No. 2 (November) money raised its ugly head for the first but not last time. We were just not getting enough in to cover our costs. £4,142 per year came in averaging one shilling and nine pence (8p) per person per week. Planned giving came in and income more than doubled to £9,000, 20p per person – much better.

In 1966 I introduced Endeavour Events, which involved dances, visits to the seaside and the theatre, which were very popular and eventually run by one of the schoolteachers, Mrs McQuaid. Outings were extremely popular then, when you realise that in those day there were only about four million cars in the country compared with 30+ million now. The first monthly events were a dance, a visit to Whipsnade Zoo and Bognor Regis.

Looking at early magazines then which had the first lists of parish organisations I am amazed to see that only surnames and initials were shown, it looks so strange now but I suppose it was a reflection of the time, there were only about ten registered organisations then compared with nearly 30 now.

Fred Marshall, a brilliant Headmaster at the time, was a frequent subscriber to the magazine as was his successor, the equally brilliant Keith Bowker, keeping the parish informed of the interesting events taking place at the school at which many parishioners were founder pupils.

Donna Wales (Now a great supporter of the Young at Heart over sixties club) ran the Brownies was agret contributor to the magazines as was Laurence Philpot (RIP) who often wrote on behalf of the scout movement.

In May 1970 the Campion Players was started with Julie Vincent (Now choir) and Peter Sedwards featuring very much as did Janet Parfitt who sadly died at a young age.

The Campion Players were popular with everybody. Their shows and pantomimes were full of humour and always had the audiences laughing and cheering year after year. The eventual closure was met with dismay. This is the front page of the November 1975 issue. Long gone were the duplicator copies, it was now printed by a sympathetic printer and typed by a professional lady who was paid for her services as were future editions until yours truly discovered how to use a computer much later. (Very few people had one in those days)

As can be seen we now had pictures and this issue was about the Campion Players. In it can be seen a very youthful Peter Sedwards who was also a server at the time and is now our Server No 1.

Frank Hogan’s daughter “Frankie” can also be seen, not sure of the others but perhaps others can tell us?

In this issue the number of organisations had reached 28 and

such stalwarts as Mrs Grayson, Miss K Travers, Mr N. Alder

(Covenants) Mrs J Preece (Legion of Mary) Mrs B. Collins

(UCM) and Mr G Rogers were included as well as others

already mentioned before.

At this time the church was closed for major renovations due to subsidence. In 1976 the church was reopened but would you believe the parish was contemplating the taking down of the presbytery and rebuilding at a cost of £80,000. Going from memory now, I think it was also contemplated that the school would be extended over the site and the house next to the church was purchased to become the new presbytery together with a parish hall. However all those involved in the restoration of the church were so exhausted that any more cash and agro was out of the question. Looking back now it might have been a good idea. 2

The May issue of Endeavour was a glossy affair dedicated to the reopening of the church following its major operation, and for the first and only time contained coloured photographs of the church. The issue was printed free by a friendly business contact of mine, Bruce Martin who I am still pleased to see every year. Much more of the happenings at this

time will be found in the history already

mentioned.

In 1978 articles started coming from

John Burke and Kate Whelan about the

Irish Society, which was very strong in

many parishes at the time. Kate and

John were great supporters of the church

as were many other members of their

families. One month I recall an Irish man

sent an Irish joke to put into the

magazine and as a result I was

contacted by a number of Irish people

threatening me with all sorts including

being reported to the Race Relations

Board. Fortunately John and Kate came

to my rescue pointing out what a great

friend I was of the Irish Society and all One picture was of the inside of the became calm again. church during the restoration.

I was also in trouble when a joke came in from a reader, with the punch line being that, a man’s dog was a carpenter because when he kicked it the dog made a bolt for the door. Phone calls came in from extreme dog lovers telling me I should not encourage people to kick their dogs!

The February 1979 issue was dedicated to our Guides who celebrated their Golden Jubilee, Louise Alder was presented with her Queen’s Guide Badge and in the article also mentioned are June Muir the Guide captain and Donna Wales who ran the Brownies. Ethel Adams who was the Guide Captain in the 1930’s was also there as were a few more names who I recognise, Mary and Elspeth Sutherland, Theresa and Bernadette Coldwell, Pat Mills, Janet Matys, Janice Parfitt, Sue Fowler, Catriona Muir, Philippa Harris and Mary Heskin, all of whom I remember as very active members of the parish.

One of my favourite pictures that appeared on the front cover of any of the magazines, was this drawing by Catriona Muir.

About this time The Over 60’s Club appeared run by Mrs E. Locke and not mentioned before but Peter Lee had been running the Badminton Club for some time.

In November 1980 the organist changed from Miss H. Bradley who I sadly did not know but had done a magnificent job for many years, to a certain Helen Blake who just a few months ago gave up the position after a most memorable time occupying the position with the magnificent choir she formed.

Every Year I always looked forward to Easter, not for the eggs,

but Helen and the choir singing the Hallelujah chorus.

Issue No 193 of the magazine in October 1981 was sadly to be the last one for 18 months due to my health and other problems, the main one of which was the inability to find somebody else to run it. The amount of money it was costing the parish was another factor.

Having been made redundant three times in seven years I found myself redundant yet again at the age of 50, which was not then and is not now, for people experiencing it, a laughing matter. Having been a 3 purchasing manager at two of the companies I was familiar with a number of small print companies who could not afford a representative on their own but I put myself forward to help them and through these connections I brought back the magazine. The parish priest at the time would not agree to support the print costs and I knew of one or two priests who wanted parish magazines (One of whom was Fr. McGowan a great supporter of the magazine in his time as parish priest in Harrow. He was by now at St. John’s Wood) I put a proposal to them that I would produce magazines for the parishes by covering the costs of printing and my time and expenses with advertising. This proposal was accepted and Endeavour was relaunched. With these two activities I was able to keep body and soul together.

Whilst I received no opposition from other parishes there were sadly a few parishioners who could not accept that I was running the magazine at a profit but Fr. Eldridge persevered and wrote a very warm welcome to the magazine in this issue. No body else wanted to produce the magazine on a voluntary basis, or any other basis for that matter, so that was it. Eventually Endeavour Parish magazines could be found in 20 parishes and I gave up my representative job to concentrate on them.

Endeavour No. 194 came out at Easter; April 1983 in the list of organisations was The Monday Club (For toddlers) and Secretary to the Friend’s of St Anselm’s both showing Pearl Fox as the contact. As most parishioners will know Pearl has been a great asset to the parish ever since.

I notice Noel Alder was raising the need for money again and encouraging Covenants. Bessway Travel was among the advertisers.

By this time Births, Deaths and marriages were being included in the magazine and many parishioners have since told me they have copies recording their weddings and the baptism of their children etc.

At the church on Saturday “3rd. July 1983 a parishioner, Terry Phipps, was ordained priest by Cardinal Hume.

Our photograph shows Fr. Terry with Cardinal Hume and pp Fr. Eldridge.

As far as I am aware Fr. Terry is the only parishioner to be ordained.

Issue No. 200 came out in October 1983 and showed a copy of the front cover of the first issue.

The two coats of arms were on the pulpit and to my dismay I cannot now remember now what they were, no doubt somebody can tell me. It is also worthy of note that Terry Horgan advertised his school of motoring on the front page. Sadly Terry died at a young age but his wife Noreen is now a popular member of the Young at Heart Club.

In the July 1984 issue The Campion Players are still going strong and the report mentions that “Shock Tactics” is to be their next production.

Issue No. 217 shows that the Lourdes Window has just been added to the Issue No. 217 showschurch that the (March Lourdes 1985) Window And Catherinehas just beenReid addedis now torunning the church the Monday (March Club 1985) and And Catherine Reid is nowMary running Waites the Mondaythe UCM. Club and Mary Waites the UCM. - No. 223 September 1985 had an interesting article by Phyllis Stuart on how the faith developed in Harrow after the reformation.223 September 1985 had an interesting article by Phyllis Stuart on how the faith developed in Harrow after the reformation. It all started in Uxendon Manor, (Which was near Preston Road Station) the home of the Bellamys, the story was four pages long and includes outline stories of our church, (which was then an Iron hut in Roxborough Road) Wealdstone, Pinner, Sudbury, Kenton, South Harrow, Northolt and North Harrow.

It also showed that Mrs Whelan ran the Parish Catechists organisations. A future copy had an article sent in which reported that on the TV a shepherd was talking about his job and said that when he was 4 out with the sheep he could not answer the phone so he was thinking of getting married. However he was given an answer phone so he didn’t have to bother. The Women’s Day of Prayer at The Albert Hall in March 1987 was reported on by Rosina Cook.

In December 1987 Mariead Flavin was shown as the Handicapped representative. Mariead is now a semi retired nurse at a local surgery.

Issue No 284, October 1990, celebrated the Silver Jubilee of the magazine, Peter Sedwards wrote a glowing report on the history of the magazine for which I thank him and he also reported that the Campion Players were still going strong and producing “Aladdin” at Christmas. The Irish Society was also still going strong and the gentle Delia Burke RIP reported on the Annual Festival they had organised in aid of St. Vincent’s hospital.

I am not sure when but about this time the church was used for a funeral in a TV film. Fr. Eldridge announced it from the pulpit for some weeks and the evening mass that evening was rather short so parishioners could get home to see it.

Unfortunately the opening scene of the film was rather sexy (Not in the church I hasten to add!) but I am sure Fr. Eldridge would not have been too impressed.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures here but for Christmas 1990 the over 60’s had a party (November 29th.) run by the scouts, which is worth reporting. The Gaytimers had been entertaining this annual event for 15 years and as will be seen they gave lots of fun to all concerned. The annual party is still run by the scouts but sadly the Gaytimers disbanded shortly after this event.

In the March 1992 issue (No. 301) we reported on the ordination of Bishop Vincent Nichols as the area Bishop for North London. Lucky North London.

Lucky England and Wales now have the then Bishop as the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster.

5

One of the first people mentioned in this article was Winnie Vincent and in September 1992 the magazine started a “Person/people of the parish” series and the first article was about Winnie when Sioban Blake, who lived opposite her, wrote how she enjoyed chatting to her and the help she had given her in her garden.

Winnie was still a member of the UCM, which was now run very ably by Mary Moore.

In April 1993 (No. 314) there appeared an article on Blessed Anthony Page, which I compiled from various articles that had appeared in this and other parish magazines I edited in the Harrow and Brent Deaneries. Of all the people who had helped in the various articles the main one was Kathleen Kingsley who was a teacher at St. Gregory’s and parishioner at St. Erconwald’s church, Preston Road, Wembley where Uxenden Manor was. The Manor was involved in the story of the Blessed Page Cousins who were martyred in the Elizabethan Era. I was delighted when a suggestion I made to have a window dedicated to them was realised in Mgr. John Coghlan’s time and the window and the Parish Centre have been named after them. Further information on the Page Cousins is available in the stories I have written, and can now be seen by the window.

I notice in the October issue, 1993 Ivan and Veronica Moreira are listed for Marriage Preparation, a position they still hold with great distinction.

The December 1993 issue (322) recorded the death of Fr. Eldridge who had been our parish priest from 1977 until 1992 but was still resident at the presbytery. There are of course many parishioners now who will remember him.

A full account appears in the Parish History already mentioned but the one thing that highlighted Fr. Eldridge's stay with us was the number of pilgrimages he took the parish on. The photo below was taken during a pilgrimage to Our Lady’s House at Ephesus.

In this issue also, Rosemary Clifford wrote the story of Fr. Eldridge’s life in Harrow

6

We now enter the period when Fr. Mgr. John Coghlan and Daisy were with us.

The year following Fr. John’s arrival marked the centenary of the church.

The April, May and June issues (326-328) of the magazine contained

the history of the church in Harrow which was the foundation of the later th book which was compiled in October 1965 to mark the 40 , anniversary of Endeavour.

It was also reported in the June issue that as part of the celebrations of the 900 years history of St. Mary’s Anglican church at the top of Harrow Hill Fr. John would say the first Roman Cathoic Mass since the Reformation, Cardinal Hume also attended Vespers.

The June issue also reported the sad death of Winnie Vincent.

Further more it reported that Lawrence Philpot was presented with the Mgr John Coghlan Papa l Benemerenti medal for his work with the youth of the parish. Pp 1993-1001

Nobody was more surprised than Lawrence.

At this time various parish magazines I published contained cartoons by the very capable Bruce McNair who sent them in for his magazine in Greenford. This is one of them- The one I particularly liked showed a penitent being given his penance “ For your penance watch every political

broadcast between now and the election” If I find it I will repeat it later

”Daddy! Did St. Paul ever get a reply to his letters Lawrence Philpot being congratulated by a previous to the Corinthians?” recipient of the Benemerenti Medal – Ted Keal.

The January 1995 issue showed Rosemary Clifford as the contact for the UCM and Albert Van Ross for the association of Separated and Divorced Catholics. Teresa Coleman was kindly supplying us with Crosswords.

I must apologise again for In the Christmas issue 1995 the poor reproduction of the we reported that Catherine photos. The system used Reid received one of the first then was acceptable at the Degrees in Distance Learning time but does not reproduce Theology. As parishioners will well now! know Catherine is still a very

active member of the parish. I’m afraid it is now a case of

this or nothing!

7

In October 1955 the parish lost two of it’s most loyal parishioners Kate and Tessa Travers, who moved to pastures new. They lived in the same house in Bouverie Road, where they were born, for many years and were at the heart of many parish organisations, the first few years of Endeavour, lots of typing for parish priests, APF, Crusade of Rescue, the Piety Stall, The Parish Council, Children of Mary, all the fetes as well as going on many of the parish pilgrimages.

Tessa was at one time the secretary of a London Transport Manager and Kate worked in Government Offices, which took her round the country.

The June 1995 issue reported on the death of a great youth leader in the parish, Fredrick Clifford - “Cliff”. Cliff made an impression on the Scout movement in our parish, which is still felt to day. He had a great sense of humour and always said he did not want to rush into marriage until his ideal girl came along. Along came Rosemary and the rest is history. Cliff brought a smile to the face of everybody who met him.

Another sad event about this time was when after many years of success and fun the Campion Players ceased.

The September 1997 issue told of the death of Fr. Tony Sullivan at the early age of 61.

Fr. Tony was a very popular at the time of Fr. Peter Harris the First (1944-1964). After he left Harrow became a Professor of Philosophy at the Diocesan Seminary at Allen Hall.

Fr Tony is seen here with Cardinal Hennan and Fr. Peter.

Parish organisation changes by that time showed that Carmel

Callaghan was responsible for the APF, Chris Allman for the

Knights of St. Columba, Carole Garvey for the Monday

Toddlers Club, Parish Catechists -Liz Carey Sheill, Margaret

Ryan for the Piety Stall and the Scouts were now under Tony

Burke.

Our photo on the right shows Tony with members of the scouts who had just won the District Athletics.

Note – As I write now it is becoming increasingly frustrating to find that the method of reproducing some photographs then is not compatible with reproducing for this article. – For which, I apologise. As I have said, it all seemed good at the time.

The parish of Bole in Ghana was in need of a lot of help about this time and Simon Harvey (Parish Council Chairman for some time) wrote an article in October 2000 showing how we were helping the parish.

The picture shows

the construction of

two houses taking

place with the help of £3,000 from our parish.

8

In the summer of 2001(No. 400) the parish said farewell to Fr. John and Fr. Peter Harris II arrived.

His time as parish priest is well documented in the History of the Church but it is noteworthy that the Stations of the Cross he had installed are now being restored with various parishioners paying the costs.

In the same issue it was reported that my granddaughter, Alison Phelan, had th died of a brain tumour on June 7 . 2001. Alison was seven years old and had been baptised at the church where her funeral also took place. Fr. John celebrated the mass just before he left.

The charity “Ali’s Dream” was started in her memory and parishioners have since then supported it by purchasing it’s Christmas Cards, also some thousands of pounds has been raised by confirmation groups in the parish and at present the charity has raised over £900,000 towards financing research to find a cure for Children’s Brain Tumours.

The same issue had an article and a Picture, showing that our Monday Club, now run by Anna Clarke, was still going strong.

Allison Marie Phelan 25th June 1993 - 7th June 2001

In October 2002 the site was cleared for the building of the Parish Centre, which was, then opened By Bishop on the 24th September 2004. Fr. John Coghlan who had been responsible for the building of the centre was at the Blessing by Cardinal Cormac O’Connor a few days later.

During Fr. Peter’s time as well as the Page Centre being built, a new organ being installed together with the new Stations of the Cross. Father also brought together a few windows which were out of sight places and had them combined in a window below the Organ loft.

In September 2004 Fr. Guy was appointed parish priest. He knew the area well, having been Parish priest at the near by parish of Bushy. As will be seen Fr. Guy has made a great impression, for the good, on the parish since his arrival.

9

By the end of 2004 the 17th. Harrow scout group was being run by Steve Alder and among their many activities in 2004 had been a Family Camp at Chalfont. As our photo shows a great time was had by all.

In 1985 one of our prominent parishioners, Mark Snell decided to change his life’s direction from the Travel Industry to found the Walsingham Trust to support people with learning difficulties by providing Christian Homes in England and Wales.

On Thursday 17th. March a mass was held at Walsingham to celebrate Mark’s work and members from the 60 houses were present with many parishioners and friends. Joining Fr. Noel Wynn the Director of Walsingham were The Anglican Canon Geoffrey Ravalde and the Methodist Rev Bill Anderson.

By July 2005 we had a Fund Raising Committee of which Ann Sharples, Pearl Fox, Sue and Mike Heffernan among others were the leading lights.

One of their events was the ever- th popular Quiz Nights on 13 . May 2005.

On the 14 th. March 2005 Sofia Mallac-Bocchio RIP sadly died, following a sudden complication. Her family who are well known as active parishioners to this day. Sofia’s mother, Elpida is now the

contact for The Our Lady of Sorrows Group. On Tuesday the 31st.

May 2005 Fr. Guy blessed a memorial to Sofia, which may be seen at the front of the Page Centre.

Sofia Mallaci-Bocchio st Born to life 31 May 1988 Born in to eternal life

14th March 2005

The terracotta memorial was made in Florence and is a copy of the originals bas-relief in Carrara

Marble, which is in the Bargello Museum. 10

The October 2005 issue (No.433) celebrated the 40th. Anniversar y of “Endeavour” and I took the opportunity of thanking all those involved since the magazines started.

Which I am now pleased to do again. As well as those mentioned at the beginning, among the names to be added is, first and foremost, Greta Blake, who up to then had been my assistant for 15 years. Greta, who was a parishioner at

Kingsbury, remained with me until the magazine ceased.

When things were going wrong and promised articles did not arrive, Greta would say, “We will win”. Some of the helpers were typists I employed who went beyond the bounds of duty and included Pam Manning RIP and her daughter, Sandra, Anne Fletcher and Valerie Wells.

Printers included Greens in Wealdstone, Printec, and Lee at The Print Shop at Pinner Green. I also thanked and thank again, the advertisers who made it all possible. I think this was the first time my photograph had been in a magazine – Sadly, as mentioned before, the print methods used by Sorry, here it is again! some of the printers do not photocopy well now! It all seemed great at the time!

In the same issue there appeared a photo of the window dedicated to the Guild of St. Martha.

The window was designed by Sue Bird’s granddaughter and was a tribute to all those who were and are responsible for keeping the church looking so beautiful with the cleaning and the flowers. A most important job with very little recognition.

As usual the guild were looking for more helpers as indeed they are at the time of writing. So come on ladies and gentlemen, roll up your sleeves and offer a hand. The members are always a cheerful group and are sure to give you a big welcome. At the time the guild was organised by Ann Sharples tel. 8422 1772 (as indeed it is now).

There was also a summer ball mentioned in this issue. The Ball was held at Harrow School and was a great success; Congratulations went to the parish secretary, Liz Fielder, who organised the event.

The Legion of Mary started at the church in 1979 and was under the guidance of Father Malin, who was a very popular curate with Fr. Eldridge. At this time, October 2005, Rosemary Beynon was the parish contact. The Legion of Mary is the largest society of men and women organised to do apostolic work in the Church, There are now over 1 million members throughout the world. The present contact is Doris La Frenais. The magazine often had articles on the Legion’s pilgrimages to Aylesford.

These photographs of some of our pilgrims arriving at Aylesford and the carrying of the statue of Our Lady were taken during the pilgrimage of 2005. 11

The Parish has been on many pilgrimages to various places over the years and this photo was taken during the pilgrimage to Rome in September 2005.

Parishioners on pilgrimage to Rome at the Spanish Steps.

In the Christmas edition (No.435) it was reco rded that mark Snell had been made a Knight of The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great for his work in founding the Walsingham Home for adults with learning difficulties of which Cardinal Hume and The Archbishop of Canterbury had been two of the original Patrons.

In the same issue the foundation of the present over 60’s Club was announced being run, as it is now, by Jo Toher and Mary Hartnett among others.

As now they were very welcoming to new Mark and Ann seen here with members who could, and can now, contact Jo Bishop James O’Brien who was the on 8427 2663. representative of the Pope at the investiture.

Other organisations recorded at that time, but not mentioned here before were the Craft Group (Olga .Freely) S.P.U.C (Kathleen Cussack)

. Father Guy was inspiring many of the parish activities and forming and encouraging new ones and among them was the Over 60’s Club. Our first photo shows members of the club doing some exercises but then, as now, their activities covered a much wider range.

12

Like visiting Bentley Priory from where Like visitingThe Battle Bentley of Britain Priory was from controlled where

Riding in a train looking at the animals in And amusing themselves and others. The Cotswold Wildlife Park.

One of Fr. Guy’s many extraordinary gifts is his ability to get people to “volunteer”.

This was shown to great effect in the spring issue 2007 (445) when a photo appeared of 36 new servers.

Obviously new cottas were now needed so Fr. Organised and took part in a sponsored jog.

The photos show him taking part and relaxing after the event.

13

Confirmations featured often in the magazines and this photo appeared in the Summer issue (No448) in 2007.

On Sunday 2nd. September 2007, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O.Connor presented Peter Sedwards with the Papal Medal, Bene Merenti, which he so richly deserved, after serving for fifty years at the altar of our church. Followed by the presenting of the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen Gold Medal, also for

50 years service.

On behalf of the parish, Peter was also presented with a silver statue of Our Lady and Child and by the altar servers a silver crucifix.

After this Peter received a well-earned and sustained round of applause from the congregation.

At this time the window (Left) dedicated to of Our Lady of Knock was installed in

memory of Barbara Cusack who was a parishioner here for the last 20 years of her

life.

Also in 2007 the parish went on pilgrimage to Fatima and Compostela and our photo in the autumn issue showed then setting off from the 14 church.

In the February 2008 (No 452) issue we had an account of the presentation to Delia Buckley, (Photo left) who received, on behalf of the parish, the first prize for the best Communal Garden in Harrow.

Delia and others, Paul, Terry and Raymond were also congratulated on the part they played in keeping the church grounds and garden looking so lovely all the year round.

2008 also saw the addition of another window by Eleanor Bird, this time, dedicated to St. Peter and Paul.

In the same issue, August 2008 (No.455) was an article on Sue Bird, following her death soon after the installation of the above-mentioned window.

So much could be written about Sue’s life that it would fill a book. Parishioners to day remember Sue who renamed the rota for the cleaning ladies “The Guild of St. Martha”. Most days of her later life she would listen to her husband’s, Keith, music as he it is we hear playing the theme tune of Coronation Street.

Sue, had been awarded the Papal medal, Bene Morenti, for her work for the parish.

From the Royalties she received from Keith’s

music Sue financed many of the windows in the church.

It is certainly worth the effort to read the account of Sue’s life in issue No.455 which is now held in the presbytery.

The records show that at this time the APF representative was Janet Steel, for BOLE it was Victor Rajalingham, for the fund raising committee it was Marve Carter. Gift Aid – Tony McCann, Justice and Peace-Angela Gannon, Monday Club – was Lisa Enright and the club now had a Thursday meeting run by Shona Ellson. Cathy Gorman now organised the important RCIA and Ann Docherty the Wednesday Club for children attending non- catholic schools. By now the church had its own Web Site organised by Brett Lake-Benson.

15 A most memorable event took place on Sunday 26th. October 2009, which was reported on in the December issue (No. 457)

The Papal Nuncio, His Excellency Archbishop Fraystino Sainz-Munoz, who as representative of the to the holds the rank of Ambassador, came to bless the new Parish Garden of Peace and Prayer.

The Celebrants of the mass were from left to right – Fr. Gerard Freely and secretary to his Excellency, Mgr Vincent Brady, His Excellency, Archbishop Fraustino- Munoz and Parish Priest Fr. Guy Sawyer.

In the garden is a water feature, signifying water as the sign of life, behind which is a statue of the Risen Christ. Alison Phelan’s family in whose memory “Ali’s Dream” was founded presented this statue.

After the ceremonies those present assembled in the parish centre for refreshments.

The event was also attended by the Mayor and Mayoress and the chief executive of the council.

As mentioned previously members of the parish were going on one or two pilgrimages each year and in July 2009 one was organised, by the Over 60’s Club, to go to Stoner.

Stoner, in Oxfordshire, was the home of the Stoners during the time of the reformation and indeed hid priests, the highlight of the pilgrimage was seeing the room where St. Edmund Campion was hidden.

The pilgrims extended their thanks to Georgina Stoner who made the group feel so welcome throughout the visit. 16

On Wednesday 21st. October 2009 members of the parish were sad to hear of the death of Teresa (Tess) Travers RIP. (To the right of her sister Kate in the photo)

As mentioned before she and her sister Kate were always around when there was work to be done in the parish.

In the Magazine (No, 463) it mentioned that the sisters were never married but were great examples of the single life, always cheerful. Kate had died in July 1998.

By June 2010 our theatre group was in its 5th. year and Mary Burrows was the contact, I would not wish to leave anybody out but to my knowledge she, Sue and Mike Hefferman together with others have been and are doing a fine job with this parish activity.

In this issue of the magazine (No.466) there was a report on the group’s visits so far this year (and it is only June!) to the Mill at Sonning where they had lunch and saw an Alan Ayckborne play, they had been to the Theatre Royal in Windsor to see Spirit of the Dance and in the Royal Opera house and other theatres in the West End they had been to Dream Boats and Petticoats, La Fille Mal Gardee and at the New London, War Horse (Picture Left). In the pipeline was, Comedy Of Errors, Spartacus and The Country Girl.

The August 2010 (No. 467) issue showed that the fund raising committee had so far raised over £2,000 (The eventual figure was over, an amazing, £9,000) organising a “Talents fund raising event" which involved among other things-

Car washing, Nina dancing and parishioners eating too many cakes.

The October issue (No. 468) included the parish celebrations for the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to England and Scotland.

Those attending the masses over the weekend of 18th/19th September will have seen the commemorative display depicting Pope Benedict and Cardinal , who was beatified by the Pope at Birmingham on the Sunday afternoon.

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On the Sunday afternoon the congregation assembled for our own “Parish Papal Party”.

Members ate in front of the Presbytery, the Hog was roasted

The Children had fun and Father Guy gave out the prizes.

It was also reported -

B by Mark Snell, that Pat Cusack had led a group Audrey Hamilton told us that another group of to Hyde Park to see the Pope, Parishes parishioners had met at 1.30am to catch a coach to go to attending had a banner and Mark carried ours Birmingham and join 55,000 other pilgrims to witness the which meant he was fortunate enough to be just beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman by Pope 10 rows back from where the Pope celebrated Benedict. This photo shows a few of those who were mass. Our photo showed just a few who were there. there

18 The same issue told us of a pilgrimage to Littlemore, near Oxford, where Blessed John Henry Newman worked prior to his conversion.

This photo shows Fr. Gerald Freely RIP, Sr. The news soon spread of how interesting the

Miriam who looked after the pilgrims during their pilgrimage had been that a further pilgrimage took

visit and Fr. Guy. place as reported in the October 2010 (468) issue.

Fr. Freely was also on this pilgrimage (Almost

hidden – top right!)

Another pilgrimage, would you believe, was also reported in this issue, it was to Palazza which included a visit to Castle Gandolfi, and the Abbey of Monte Cassino.

Our photographs shows them posing for the official photograph and of them having lunch. The report also shows that all the pilgrims were given a gift from Fr. Guy for being good pilgrims. Rosemary Clifford and Fr. Guy competed with each other to buy tack. Fr Guy. Won with a nodding pope, which fortunately bore no resemblance to Pope Benedict!

And so we came to the last edition of Endeavour (No.470 - March 2011). Which contained as usual, Baptisms, Marriages and deaths and articles on the Christmas Eve Children’s mass, Our Playgroups, The over 60’s Club, now called The Young At Heart Club and an article from me thanking all those who had helped me produce the parish magazine for 46 years.

Colin Hinton

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