Order Documents

A natural progression when giving a brief history of St. Bernadette's Church is to trace the early days of the parish through to its development into a large community of people, who now celebrate within its modern centre-piece, 'The New Church'.

The history of the Parish started with the Parish Priest of its neighbouring parish of Holy Souls - Father Albert Lakin who came to Scunthorpe from Grimsby in 1929, and stayed for twenty years, until his death, in 1949. Father Lakin could see that the developing steel town of Scunthorpe was expanding southwards, towards Ashby, and the growing Catholic Community in the area, who up to then had to travel nearly two and a quarter miles, into Scunthorpe, to hear Mass, needed a 'Mass-centre' of their own. He decided to purchase a piece of land - the present church site - for a future church in the early 1940's. The war years intervened and the site remained undeveloped.

Father Lakin, in the meantime, negotiated the use of various premises, to be used as 'Mass-centre' for the growing Ashby Community; these included the old Cooperative Store on Ashby Road and the St. Hugh's Church Hall. These were used for about eleven years (my Dad being an early parishioner there, in a pram!)

Sadly, Father Lakin died before the Ashby Site could be developed. His successor at Scunthorpe, Father John Merrigan progressed the hard work of the late Father Lakin, and along with 'voluntary labour' (the pioneers and pillars of the early parish) erected the temporary church hall in 1950.

In 1951, a group of sisters of the 'Presentation Order' established a convent, in a house in Ashby High Street, and they opened up a small independent school, in the temporary Church Hall, with a very able and industrious sister, Mother Joseph, as its head.

In 1954, the Presbytery was built and Father Jeremiah Patrick McGillycuddy arrived from St. Patrick's, Harworth, to take up his appointment, on April 5th, 1954 as the first parish priest of St. Bernadette's, Ashby.

In 1955 a new Primary School, aptly named St. Bernadette's was opened within the boundary of the newly formed parish. The first Head was Sister Alphonsus and the nucleus of the teaching staff was formed from the sisters of the Presentation Convent in Ashby.

Father Jeremiah worked exceptionally hard to develop the Parish, assisted over the years by many very exceptional assistant Priests, and it was his ultimate dream to build a new, modern Church. However, his first priority was in collaboration with the then Parish Priest of Holy Souls, the Rev. Father Andrew Murdock, to provide the town's first Catholic Secondary School, St. Bede's - of which I myself was pupil, after my early years at St. Bernadette's Infants and Juniors.

St. Bede's as with the primary school, was located within the St. Bernadette's Parish Boundary - but was to serve the needs of both Parishes and outlying districts. The foundation stone of the school was laid on June 13th, 1960 by the Right Reverend Bishop Ellis, and the school was opened for lessons in September 1961 which was also the Golden Jubilee Year of Holy Souls Parish. The first Head Master of the school was Mr. R. Doherty.

With the school established, Father Jeremiah again considered his ambition to build a new Church. The Bishop of Nottingham sadly rejected the original design back in 1968, as being 'too ambitious' and 'too expensive'. Undeterred, Father Jeremiah continued to work unstintingly for the parish and he again submitted new plans in 1976 - these were eventually finalised and accepted in 1978. Brown and Buttrick were the chartered architect firm employed from Scunthorpe. Mr. E. Walton being the actual architect who designed the new church. Altree and Company of Lincoln were the surveyors used and the contract was awarded to a local builder, J.B. Jellinyck and Sons, with electrical fitting being supplied by E.G. Phillips, Sons and Partners, of Nottingham.

Work commenced on the new church in February, 1980. Father Jeremiah inspected its progress every day, most closely - he was even seen by one parishioner, on his way to work early one morning, at the apex of the church roof, inspecting the lead flashing! No mean feat for a man of 67 years! With a mild winter and a reasonable spring, progress was quite swift and the church was opened at its Solemn Consecration on December 10th of that same year by Right Reverend James McGuiness, Bishop of Nottingham. Father Jeremiah's ambition was, at last, fulfilled. His hard work for the people of the Parish of St. Bernadette was well rewarded with this beautiful church. Unfortunately, the hard work had taken its toll on Father's health - he had been unwell for a long time - and in 1983, our very much-loved 'First Parish Priest' was forced to semi-retire through ill health. The able and very humble assistant priest of the parish at that time, July 1983, Father Marian Cjesielski took charge on a temporary basis until September 1983. On 29th September 1983, Father Anthony O'Dowd was appointed.

Father Jeremiah, ill in health as he was, still attended services on a daily basis and took his place sitting to the right of the altar throughout the services. Gradually his health deteriorated and during his final weeks in the parish he attended services in a wheel-chair - taking up a position to the right of the outer sanctuary - to listen to Holy Mass and receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion. Inevitably, he was advised to retreat to a peaceful rest home in Derby, 'Mount Carmel', where he died a few months later in January 1986. His funeral took place from 'his' beloved new church. At his request, 'to be always among his beloved Scunthorpe parishioners' he was finally laid to rest in the beautiful grounds of the 'Woodlands Memorial Park.'

The spiritual awareness of the community continues to grow in a way expected of so many good people who worked so hard to give my generation such a solid basis of our continued Catholic development into the next millennium.

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