The main part of St Erconwald's Church was built in 1937, the extension containing the Sanctuary followed in 1951. The original church was in fact the building we use today as the hall which was built in 1906. The photos below show the contrast between the splendour of the original church and the hall we know today!  St Erconwald's Church pre-1937  The Hall Today The first church was built in 1905 and it was the following year that a meeting of persons interested in forming a new Catholic Mission was held in the presence of the Bishop of Southwark. The meeting took place in the Presbytery of St. Charles Boromeo, Weybridge on Sunday 4th February 1906. Thanks to the efforts of Miss Mary S. Kearney of Erin Lodge, Thames, a committee was formed at that meeting and promises of financial support were given. The cost of the first Church was £ 1,000 and the annual interest due was £40. The minutes of the February meeting show a list of subscriptions promised ranging from £2 to £ 12 from thirteen parishioners, totalling 73 pounds 12 shillings. The total sum needed that year to service the loan and to cover the weekly expense of providing a Priest to say Mass was £ 100. The Bishop agreed to open the Church and provide the services of a priest on condition that the local people would guarantee this amount. Miss Kearney and her committee solved the problem of the shortfall between the promised subscriptions and the £ 100 required, by persuading the thirteen subscribers to increase their pledges by 50%, an additional 36 pounds sixteen shillings! Mr. A.M. Burke paid for the Altar, Dr. Scannell provided a Chalice and Mr. Hasslacher donated the Church benches. A census of the number of Catholics in Walton indicated that the Mission would continue to grow and with the finance now secured, the Chapel of Ease which is now the Parish Hall was opened in 1906 and served from Surbiton. The Priest cycled over on Saturday evenings and stayed with members of the small congregation, primarily Mr. & Mrs. P. Wilson of 34 Winchester Road. Subsequently, the Mission was taken over by the Clergy at St. George's College who ran it until 1929 when Father Stephen O'Beirne was appointed. Father O'Beirne bought the site of the present Church in 1931. Bishop Amigo directed that the new Church be dedicated to St. Erconwald. Father Fred Copsey was appointed in 1933 and it was he who started the building of the church in 1937. The estimated cost, including a tower which was then intended, was £6,000, but Bishop Amigo thought this amount too ambitious an undertaking for the Parish so work was stopped when the Nave was built. The war prevented further work until Father Jeffries was appointed in 1947. The Sanctuary was added shortly after his arrival and Father Jeffries was also responsible for completing the back of the church and the arrangement of the fluted bricks behind the Altar. Father Robert P. Madden arrived in 1958 to begin almost 30 years as Parish Priest of Saint Erconwalds. He had been instructed by the Bishop to "build something at Hersham". A small all purpose hall had been planned but Father Madden, backed by a business committee, decided to go ahead immediately with the Church we see at Hersham today and to accept the financial burden involved in addition to the remaining debt at Walton. The money was raised by a bank overdraft of £ 15,000 and All Saints at Hersham was opened in less than 18 months. Meanwhile, progress at Walton meant that trees and bushes (and a telegraph pole!) had been cleared to provide the car park, and the narthex and Church porch were built. This work cost £6,000, as much as the original estimate for the whole church. The entire debt for the work at St. Erconwalds and All Saints was cleared in less than 8 years: a remarkable achievement and a tribute to Father Madden's leadership and the hard work and generosity of the parishioners. In 1993 Fr Liam O'Connor took over from Fr Jerry as our parish priest. Recent events include the ordination of Royston Pegley in December 2003 - the first at St Erconwalds - and our centenary in September 2005. After 13 years at St Erconwald's, in September Fr Liam moved to the parish of Goring-by-Sea and Fr John Pearson took over as parish priest in 2006. |