Beginning to build...The architects Broadhead and Royle of Nottingham, who had designed the new Vicarage, were commissioned to draw up plans for "a contemporary structure which would meet the needs and express the thinking of the 20th Century' . The PCC accepted their design, and work on the new building commenced on June Ist, 1956. At a great ceremony (according to the Parish Review published in 1950) the Foundation Stone was laid by the Duke of Portland, on July 29th, 1956, 'in the presence of many civic and ecclesiastical dignitaries and a congregation of almost 3000 people' . In the absence of the Diocesan, the Bishop of Pontefract, the Right Revd. George Clarkson, actually dedicated the Stone. A well-attended evening Service of Thanksgiving followed, and the Bishop of Grantham preached; the whole celebration was not merely a great civic occasion, but a gathering of old friends who had been planning long. Work progressed rapidly - the builders, Harold Ashley and Sons of Mansfield Woodhouse, completed the main building in 20 months. Meanwhile, the Funding also proceeded apace; during the same period about £6,000 towards the Building Fund target was raised or subscribed in the Parish. It was a comprehensive and well thought out scheme. On the one hand, Vernon Royle's specifications for the new Church building were a model in contemporary church design . On the other, there was clearly an intention to set up a vigorous and well-equipped and staffed parish. In December 1957 work began on the Garden of Rest (east of the old Hall Church), to be laid out as a lawned Rose Garden for the interment of the ashes, and due for completion so that it could be in use by Easter 1958. The old Hall Church itself, interestingly called the 'temporary' Church , was not to be demolished or simply kept, but extended. "From the inception of the Conventional District," explained The Review, the Parish organisations "had to use the two local school premises at some considerable inconvenience.. we are determined that in the first Winter after the Consecration of our Parish Church, they will have a Hall worthy of the work they are trying to do. ". And the Staff grew. Ronald Calder was admitted to Deacons' Orders on December 21st, 1957, to serve his Title here, and Raymond Townsend, previously on the staff of Turner's Court at Benson in Oxfordshire, arrived in February 1958 to be Parish Youth Leader. |