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we discovered that they had pressed ahead with their own plans, and had already built or were building schools to accommodate both their own children and those of our parents....they blandly turned round upon us and said that to provide a (Catholic) school would be redundant, since they had already made provision for the children of the whole area. Such an action I call unfair in the light of early negotiations and unjust to our people, whose rights are supposed to be safeguarded by the Education Act. It is with regret that I have to say this, since our constant desire has been not to fight authorities but to work in harmony with them.
“Let me not end, however, on this unhappy note....rightly we rejoice in the building of this grand church; yet you must remember that something still more important is to be done. I refer to the spiritual building of your own lives. You are the living stones of God’s Holy Temple...your lives should soar high above the low standards of our degenerate times.
“It will not be easy in a world which ignores God’s Law and seeks only material comfort and pleasure. But take heart. You have in your possession the strongest of all weapons - our faith. By this faith you in your poverty are building this beautiful Church; this faith will give you the Mass and the Sacraments; from your Catholic faith properly practised will well up a perpetual fountain of grace; by it your minds will clearly see to follow your Master, Christ, ‘whose yoke is sweet, and whose burden is light”.
So the building of the Parish Church began in an atmosphere of some Crusade; how the project of the School fared will be told later in the story.
The Solemn Blessing of the New Church
June 26th, 1955
April 1955 was the cruellest month for the Diocese of Nottingham. Monsignor Hargreaves’ failing health was unfitting him for the office of Vicar General; and with regret Bishop Ellis gently transferred this burden, to Mgr. Harry Drury. But at the end of the month the Bishop himself was struck down with a severe heart attack; and so it fell to the new Vicar General to bless the Church of St. Alban.
Today we would expect this sort of ceremony to take place in the context of a great concelebration of priests. In 1955 this was unheard of, Mgr. Drury was assisted by two priests, Frs. Tarpey and Murphy, with the others (including the ailing Mgr. Hargreaves) present in choir dress.
The first procession into the new church set off from the Sacristy under the direction of Fr. Snee and Mr. Ray Donovan - who served as M.C. from the days of the Hut until his death in 1971.
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The day was pleasant, and the ceremony was beautified by the singing of a Mass in Five Tones by Orlando di Lasso, sung by the choir of St. Hugh’s College, Tollerton. Perhaps the prospect of an excellent lunch at the Midland Hotel lent its own sense of occasion. The Mayor and Mayoress were present; it was a moment of fulfilment and promise. All spoke well of the new venture.
The evening Procession through Chaddesden
(The figure in a lace cotta with folded arms is Father Purdy)
his deep pleasure and consolation quite overcame his disability. But he said nothing of himself: all was...“Nothing gave greater pleasure than the obviously deeply-felt words of the Mayor about Mgr. Hargreaves, to whom everyone’s thoughts, and eyes, constantly turned throughout the day. The thought of this consummation had done much to maintain his spirit so marvellously during the long purgatory of what were to prove the last months of his life. Speaking at the luncheon he was stronger in voice than one could recall for some time - his deep pleasure and consolation quite overcame his disability. But he said nothing of himself: all was... (continued on p12)
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