Bath
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St Alphege's New Parish Hall
Origins
The building of a new parish hall for St Alphege's was caused by the need to build new school buildings for St John's Catholic
Primary School in Bath to enable all the school to be on one site. The school had been split between two sites; the juniors in
Pulteney Road and the infants in temporary accommodation at St Alphege’s. The need to bring both parts of the school together in a
purpose-built building had long been accepted. Despite many years of searching the local authority had failed to identify a suitable site in Bath.
Eventually the Diocese agreed to allow the school to be built at St Alphege's but this would require the demolition of the existing parish hall.
Cutting the First Turf
(Photo by Neil Philips Photography. Courtesy of ISG Pearce Ltd)
Peter Daly, Chairman of the Governors, said that they were meeting to celebrate the opening of the final chapter in building the new school.
"I shall not recount the history of the local authority's failure, despite the efforts of its officers, to meet the legal obligations to provide a site and playing field for our school. Suffice it to say that the Diocese agreed to allow the Governing Body to build here at St Alphege's. However this site is not big enough for both the school buildings and a playing field. The parish of St Alphege came to the rescue by generously agreeing to the demolition of their hall and its replacement by a smaller one to enable an all-weather pitch to be provided by B&NES in place of a playing field. We thank the parish for that support."
The ceremony concluded with Father Tom asking for God's blessing on the enterprise and all who would work on it over the coming
16 months or so.
Shortly afterwards the excavators moved in and work began on clearing the site for the new school and parish hall.
Clearance of some of the temporary school huts and felling of the tall trees alongside the church allowed the foundations of
the new hall to be prepared.
Laying the Foundation Stone
The formal ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone of the new Parish Hall took place with Fr Michael English on Friday 20 March 2009.
The year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the existing hall and the eightieth anniversary of the Solemn Blessing of the church.
Click HERE for pictures and details of the ceremony.
Nearing Completion
The new parish hall nears completion, October 2009.
A new linking corridor, or "cloister", was constructed between the church and the new hall.
Masons cut a new doorway to it in the NW corner of
the church in what was formerly the toilet.
Handing Over
In March 2010 the church took possesion of the keys of the hall when Pearce's foreman, Naheen, handed them over to Jenny Milliner
in the presence of architect Pat Benjamin.
The Blessing of the Hall
On Palm Sunday Fr Richard and congregation had gathered outside the new parish hall to bless it.
The assembly then entered the building for the start of the liturgy of the Palm Sunday Mass before processing into the church carrying palm crosses.
After the Mass the congregation retired to the new hall for a Bean Feast organised by the "Just St Alphege's" Social Justice Group.
The old parish hall which had served the church well for 50 years could now be demolished to allow the all-weather playing ground to be created
for St John's School
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Completion
The church and the new hall in October 2010.
Benjamin & Beauchamp, architects of the new parish hall, have some fine pictures of it on
their website
(For bookings, please see Contacts).
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