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The local people were very far from inactive in their turn. A committee was formed to raise money for the prospective church, even in the time of Mgr. Payne; and vigorous was its attitude to his suggestion that their funds be channelled into the Mother Parish. For some time Mass was celebrated by St. Mary’s clergy in a clinic at Sussex Circus; and this was the modest beginning of parish life. Mgr. Hargreaves was much more positive towards the practical business of acquiring a site for building, and soon he had bought part of the land in Roe Farm, which was about to be formed into one of the Council estates. The cost of the land was £1000.

Originally it was assumed that a Church, Presbytery, and school would all be arranged together on this site; so it is a very large piece of land, forming a pleasant open space amid the rather monotonous tracts of housing about it. But when it was first bought it seemed very much out in the wilderness - a good instance of the foresight of Mgr. Hargreaves.

From the beginning he seems to have taken the project to heart. He suggested the title of St. Alban because of his own membership of St. Alban’s College, Valladolid, in Spain; there he had trained for the priesthood.

The first St. Alban's, 1948

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Mr Carlin from The Grange stencilled the emblems on the wall

The Hut 1948 - 1956

The Roe Farm site was bought in 1946. By July 1948 we find the Borough granting permission for the erection of a temporary hut, for use over the ensuing five years as a Church Hall. Two War Department Nissen huts were found — standing on Markeaton Park — which had been Army training premises, and then were used to house “displaced persons”; Mgr. Hargreaves bought them both. The smaller hut was attached to the larger as a Sacristy.

Mr. and Mrs. Carlin, of the Grange, Chaddesden, had been granted the privilege of a private chapel at the request of Mgr. Payne. Mass had sometimes been celebrated for their family in it, and the Blessed Sacrament was reserved in their house. So the Hut was not the first place of worship in the parish to be built. But the Grange chapel was distinctly a private one; so we can say that the opening of the Hut was equivalent to the arriving in the Parish of the Ark of the Covenant. Mass was celebrated twice each Sunday, and Benediction and Confessions were on the programme. The Parish was beginning to live its independent life.

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The Parish Committee

By 1953 the ideas for the new church were clarifying. The promised estates were materialising rapidly. One developer, a Mr. Nepoiski, had built 750 houses in a single year.

The Parish Committee began to take notes of its monthly meetings. These have survived. There are the usual concerns for raising cash — the football sweep (Messrs. L. & P. Lewis); the outdoor collection (Mr. Stone) and a long succession of Garden Fetes and Jumble Sales. The tireless labours of Mr. Brunt in selling a large collection of Milk Bottle Tops is carefully chronicled, which makes for light relief. But the first minute on record says:

“The Chairman stated that our most desperate need was for a priest of our own. It was proposed by Mr. Brunt that we make a representation to Mgr. Hargreaves, asking if anything could be done. The proposition was carried.

Yes indeed. But priests are not so easily provided. One impressive fact about the early days was the low scale on which money matters operated. The total turnover of funds in January 1953 was £33! A dance for the building fund raised £15.14s.3d, which was agreed to be “very satisfactory”. Thankfully the funds began to rise as the Church became more real in people’s minds; by April the total raised had gone up to £60.16s.5d.

The Parish Committee with Bishop Ellis and Mgr. Hargreaves