Memories of St Margaret Clitherow Church Bracknell
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In 1969 Father John Keenan arrived in Bracknell to start a second parish as it was felt that, with the growth of Bracknell, a second Catholic church was needed.
Father John Keenan arrived on 1st May 1969 and stayed at St. Joseph's Church with Father Peter Wilkie.
In a very short time, Father Keenan was given a house on Pickering Wildridings. He set up the first parish centre in East Lodge, Great Hollands and this was used for Sunday Masses.
Daily Mass was celebrated in his house on Pickering. When we outgrew the premises at East Lodge, Mass on Sundays was celebrated in Great Hollands Community Centre. We then moved to Easthampstead Community Hall at the rear of St. Michael's Church.
We were then offered St. Michael's Church by Colin Hill, the then Vicar, for the 11am Mass on Sunday and we also celebrated Midnight Mass there at Christmas.
A site was purchased on Ringmead for the new church and this was blessed one Sunday afternoon with Father Keenan and some of the parishioners. Father Wilkie was also present. A stake was planted into the ground and that was to be the position of the Altar. Work had already started on raising funds to build the new church. Various schemes were adopted; football pools, jumble sales, bingo and various other ways we could raise money.
Work finally started on the church and it was opened in 1972 by Bishop Worlock. The presbytery was built at the same time. The car park was laid by some of the men of the parish with the help of local builders who were building the Hanworth estates (at no cost to the parish).
The name of the church was chosen because the local area of Wildridings has many roads named after places in Yorkshire, and also as St. Margaret Clitherow was canonised in 1970 and she came from York.
The church was designed by architects Messrs Murphy O'Connor, relatives of the present Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, and built by A E Howell's of Ascot. The stained glass windows, the crucifix of the Risen Christ and the Wooden Plaque of Madonna and Child were designed and made by David John, a local artist from Woodley. The stained glass window 'This is the Cup of my Blood' was given by Bishop Derek Worlock, Bishop of Portsmouth.
The Catholic Women's League was started very soon after Father Keenan came (St. Margaret Clitherow is the patron on the CWL) and also St. Vincent de Paul Society was set up. These groups were instrumental in raising funds for the new church.
The statue of St. Margaret Clitherow came from Italy and was paid for by the CWL of the parish.
The crib figures were also donated by the CWL.
The pipe organ was installed by Manders Organs of London at the same time as the church was built.
It is not yetcomplete as the cost has been prohibitive.
Until St. Margaret Clitherow School was built, children attended St. Joseph's School and were taken to school by coach each day. This was organised by Father Keenan. Land was then purchased in Pembroke, Hanworth to build another catholic primary school for the area.
The catholic primary school of St. Margaret Clitherow was opened in February 1976.
The church of St. Margaret Clitherow has seen two ordinations - Father James Keenan in 1979 and Father Felix Muscat.
There is a small garden of remembrance that was started in the early 1990's and which contains the ashes of some of our parishioners. This is situated at the front of the presbytery.
Father Keenan was parish priest until 1979. He was succeeded by Father Tom McGrath who served the parish for 5 years. Father Tom obtained the present stations of the cross and statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady from a convent that was closing.
Father Pat Faughan arrived in 1984 and remained until 1991. During this time the garage was added to the presbytery, which was also a storage unit.
Father Peter Hart then followed and he remained until 2000. The debt on the church and the school was finally cleared in July 2000, much to everyones jubilation!
Father John Chadwick arrived in September 2000, followed by Father Vincent Convery in September 2003.
Tony Cunningham, who was a parishioner of St. Margaret Clitherow for many years, was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate on 4th July 2004.
Tony studied at St. John's Seminary in Wonnersh and was ordained by Bishop Crispian at St. John's Cathedral in Portsmouth. Tony served the parishes
of St. Joseph and St. Margaret Clitherow until he emigrated to Australia towards the end of 2008.Since 2005, both catholic churches in Bracknell (St. Joseph and St. Margaret Clitherow) have been served by Father Chris Rutledge as parish priest, and in November 2008, the two parishes officially became one, called St. Joseph and St. Margaret Clitherow.
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- St. Joseph’s Church
- Parish Office,
- Stanley Walk, Bracknell
- Berkshire
- RG12 1HA
01344 425729
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