The 1900's

The Parish grows and builds the Church of St Joseph's

Early 1900's - Priest comes reluctantly to Aldershot, and builds a new Church!

In December 1901 Bishop Cahill made his first first Visitation of Aldershot. He discussed the future of the Mission with Fr Riordan. It was suggested that the Salesians should take it over. This could not be done without the consent of the chapter. The chapter refused consent with the result that Fr Stegall, the Priest in charge of North End, Portsmouth, was asked to go and see the Bishop. He had done great work at North End, building up the schools there and in many ways improving the Mission. The Bishop told him that he was very much worried about Aldershot and had been making the choice of a new rector the subject of earnest prayer to the Sacred Heart. He said that in his prayer the name of Fr Stegall kept coming before his mind and he therefore felt that he was God's choice. Fr Stegall was very much disturbed by this, he said that he was anxious to God's Will, but apparently did not want to go to Aldershot. He became quite ill and nearly fainted, and they had to give him restoratives in the way of drink. So it was agreed that he need not leave the Mission.

That very evening Bishop Cahill wrote to Fr O'Farrell (pictured) asking him to take over the Mission of Aldershot. He had been in charge of St Patrick's, Woolston for the past five years and for two years he had been Acting Chaplain to the Forces at Netley Hospital. He was not all that anxious to go to Aldershot but he replied that he was at his Bishop's disposal and would go to Aldershot if ordered to do so. His assistant at Woolston was Fr Green, who later built the church at Newbury. Fr Green expressed the wish to go to Aldershot with Fr O'Farrell. His wish was granted but never materialised. The new Rector had an interview with Bishop Cahill in February. He told the Bishop that the first thing he needed in his new parish was a new Church. He suggested that he should immediately open a fund for this purpose and that the church should be a Memorial Church to the Catholic soldiers who had lost their lives in the South African Wars. The fund was opened, but it was 10 years before sufficient money was collected to start building. The Foundation Stone was laid by Bishop Cotter on 19th March 1912 (St Joseph's Day) and the following year on 30th January the formal opening took place. Pontifical High Mass was sung by the Bishop of the Diocese and Bishop McIntyre, Auxiliary of Birmingham, preached.

Mid to late 1900's - Those Catholics just keep on growing ...

From 1942 to 1947 Canon Bernard Morris was Parish Priest. He was succeeded in 1947 by Canon Daniel O'Hanlon, who remained in Aldershot for 29 years. Under him a new chapel of ease was built on Church Lane on the eastern side of the parish, to meet the needs of the Lower Farnham Road area of the town, and dedicated to St Saviour. The building was designed by Mr H Towner of Uckfield and built by Messrs Chapman, Lowry and Puttick of Haslemere. The church built of Cotswold composition stone, was held up for a short time because of a general shortage of bricks, but the builder of the then new BBC TV Centre at White City found he had some surplus, and these were incorporated into the structure of St Saviour's church. The altars were made of soft sandstone from Beer in Devon and the statues and other fittings of oak. An electric organ was also installed. It was opened during a two hour service on the 1st November 1960 by the Most Rev John Henry King, Bishop of Portsmouth, who consecrated the High altar and celebrated the Mass. The building was used by Catholics in Aldershot for until 1990. The building continues as a place of worship and is now known as Park Church. It still bears many marks of a Catholic church as several fixtures and fitting remain intact.

In 1961, the new All Hallows Catholic Secondary School opened its doors on Weybourne Road. The money to build the school had been raised by the people of St Joseph's Aldershot. The first Headmaster was John Doyle, who died in the Golden Jubilee Year of the school. His son Peter would go on to be ordained priest for the Diocese of Portsmouth and later Bishop of Northampton.

In 1963 the old iron church of St Mary's was taken down, and a fine new building erected in it's place. From 1976-1986 the new parish of St Mary's, was administered as a separate parish away from St Joseph's. Since then the parishes have been united as a single parish.

On 8th June 1968, Peter Doyle, son of All Hallows' first Headteacher was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood by Bishop Derek Worlock at St John's Cathedral in Portsmouth. He was ordained alongside Nicholas France who would become a future Parish Priest of St Joseph's.

1970s-1990s

In 1973 the old St Joseph's School in Queens Road was demolished, and a new Parish Hall built in it's place. A new infants school was opened in Bridge Road in 1966, and in 1978 a transferred junior school was built next to the infants school.

The mid-70s saw the ordination of two brothers from the parish. On 27th January 1974, Timothy Garratt was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood by Bishop Derek Worlock at the Cathedral of the Bishop of the Forces and on 26th July 1975 his younger brother Jeremy was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood by Bishop Derek Worlock at St Joseph's. Fr Jeremy was later made a Monsignor and served at Vice-Rector of the Venerable English College in Rome and Rector of St John's Seminary in Wonersh and later the Parish Priest at Waterlooville.

Fr Nicholas France was appointed Parish Priest in 1977. Following a drastic reordering, St Joseph's Church was finally consecrated on 22nd September 1982 by Bishop Anthony Emery, nearly 70 years after opening for worship. Fr France was later was made a Monsignor and awarded the MBE for services to the Portuguese community in Jersey. He died in December 2024. In 1982 a large extension to All Hallows School was completed.

In 1984, after a short tenure as Parish Priest of Aldershot, Fr Ronald Hishon was appointed as the Rector of the Royal English College of St Alban in Valladolid, Spain, at the time a major seminary.

On 9th July 1988, Nicholas Heap was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood by Bishop (later Cardinal) Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (then Bishop of Arundel and Brighton) in St Joseph's. (There was no Bishop of Portsmouth at the time, Bishop Anthony Emery having died in April that year.)

On 14th July 1990, Graham Attridge was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood by Bishop Crispian Hollis in St Joseph's.

On 29th June 1996, Paul Lindsay-Scott was ordained at St Mary's as the parish's first Permanent Deacon. He also served as Chaplain to St Joseph's Primary School.

Click here to follow our journey in to the Third Millennium