Parish History

Fr Sunn

Tucked away in the attic of the presbytery we found, when looking for material about the church's history, a couple of boxes full of old books, minutes, bills and letters. We haven't had a chance to go through them systematically as yet, but what we did find were lots of fascinating old photos, some of which we've uploaded to the website, with more to come.

Here's a picture of the founder of the parish, Fr Joseph Sunn, with a nun. If anyone knows who she is, please contact me . The same applies to the other photos. If you know anything about the people in them, tell us.

Bishop consecrating church

The bishop (anyone know his name?) consecrating the church.

What the church was meant to look like

And did you know that the church was originally planned to have a tower? Here's what it was supposed to look like.

What it became

And this of course is what was actually built.

An early photo

Moving from illustration to photograph.

View from the side

A look from the direction of where the school playground is now.

Inside view

Moving inside, this is what would have greeted you in the 1930s.

The original altar

With a close up view of the original high altar (and a big thank you to Sean Carroll, who found this postcard on eBay and bid for it).

Dig for it

Fr Sunn seems to have been quite a character. Here's a photo from an interview with a local paper, showing him rolling up his sleeves and helping lay the foundations for what was to be his life's work.

The consecration

Still, all the effort proved worthwhile when eventually the church was consecrated.

The consecration

Which seems to have been a long winded and incense laden affair.

First holy communion

But after all that labour, still no rest. There's first Holy Communion for a start.

Party on '30s style

And lot's of other events too.

Sisterhood

Not to mention dealing with the sisterhood.

Rest in peace

But after all that labour there would eventually be rest.

Edited to add: we now have all these images and more available in a gallery where they can be seen in greater detail. So thanks to our designer, Marco Pozzi , and please take a look .