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The effect of the new transepts is enormous. There is a feeling of space and light in the Church which makes it a joyous and luminous setting for the renewed liturgy. The complex space has resulted in a splendid acoustic for music.

Bishop Ellis blessed the extensions on September 13th, 1966, and the whole building was consecrated by Bishop McGuinness on June 9th, 1976, almost twenty years after its first blessing.

The Transepts

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The Bronze Figure

Finally, it was decided that something was needed to adorn the open space of the east wall. It was to be a kind of memorial to all those who had helped in the building of St. Alban’s. The architects recommended a London metal-sculptor, Sean Crampton; and after some consultation the commission was offered for a large Risen Christ in welded phosphor-bronze. The whole figure is ten feet high, and was delivered to the Church in 1977. It was set up by parishioners under the supervision of the artist, and the cost - almost £1300 -  was subscribed by parishioners in memory of their relations.

The bronze is made of strips of metal “swirled” into the shape of the human figure. The hollow interior is a real factor in the design: the eyes are completely transparent. But the live face and gesture of eucharistic prayer transform the “burnt-out” impression of the figure, making of it a kind of fragile web filled with light — perhaps a little like St. Paul’s image, “We are but the frail earthen vessels that convey this mystery”. Our figure of Christ is a figure of death, but is at the same time strong and vital; it is enclosed in a cross, but also in a mandorla, the almond-shaped nimbus of risen glory. By a happy coincidence, the halo about the head of the Christ is round — that is, it reflects his heavenly life; but the top of the cross forms a second, square frame, which is the traditional halo for depictions of the living.

The Parish Priest;

celebrates his Jubilee in the parish this year.

He was born a Derbeian, and studied for the priesthood in Ushaw College, Durham during the war, being ordained by Bishop John McNulty in 1942. He spent a period in Grimsby at St. Mary’s, and then went to Oakham as a caretaker Parish Priest (the Oakham Locum); but after six months’ rural retreat he was given the task of creating a parish at Knighton, as described in the text.

He succeeded Fr. Andrew (later Archbishop) Beck, and Fr. Bernard Rickett, AA, as Diocesan Schools’ Commission Secretary, and brought this burdensome task to St. Alban’s, resigning only after a quarter-century of labours for Catholic education. In those years the number of schools built by the Diocese had grown from 55 to 93; and in all of them Monsignor has been involved in some way.

He was made a Canon in 1961, and in 1972 he received the honour from the Pope of being named an honorary Prelate with the title of Monsignor.

Since 1978 he has been the Dean of the Derby and South Derbyshire Deanery.

He has contributed the following Backword to the history so far, not as a postscript, but as an interim report.