Eddie Menday: St Lawrence marks

May 28 2009

Part of our long history tells us that after the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII, those of the Catholic faith had a very difficult time, and even suffered death for their beliefs.

It was not until the 19th Century when the religious life of the country was in meltdown, with the various factions and dissenters leaving the Church of England to set up "free churches", that the Catholics began to enjoy being able to worship a little more freely.

When John Henry Newman left the Church of England to become a cardinal in the Church of Rome, taking a number of his followers with him, it opened the floodgates for Catholic places of worship to be built.

A number of these churches are now celebrating their longevity, as with 100-year-old St Bridgets at Isleworth, of which I wrote a few weeks ago.

At the end of the 19th Century, the Catholics in Feltham had to travel to Sunbury to attend mass, as there was no RC church in the town.

When the St Anthony's Children's Home opened at Hatton in 1900, the faithful were invited to share in services in their small chapel.

Later, Mr W John Allen, who lived in Crendon Lodge in the Hanworth Road, Feltham, now sadly pulled down, arranged for a priest to travel from Sunbury to celebrate mass in his house.

Land on the south side of Feltham Green was purchased by the Catholic community, and a small corrugated hall was erected and blessed on April 15, 1912, as the new church.

Despite a fire in 1915, the small hall sufficed while funds were raised for a new church close by.

Its foundation stone was laid on July 24, 1932, with due ceremony and opened in the December of that year.

Thoughts then turned to the education of the young and an application was made to the education department of the Middlesex County Council (MCC) for a junior school to be built. This was agreed, and on January 8, 1934, the new

school was opened by Bishop J Butt, vicar general of the Diocese of Westminster.

The first roll shows 185 children attending, a third of whom came from St Anthony's Home.

The orphans from the home used to walk from Hatton to the school each day and back, led by sisters wearing huge white headgear.

I remember seeing these youngsters walking crocodile fashion along Faggs Road, with their hamper of food for their lunch, which was apparently bread and jam. No school dinners like today's youngsters.

When the boys left juniors, they went to a school in Sunbury, while the girls had classes in the old hut. There was an intention to build an elementary school nearby, but this did not materialise.

The Middlesex Chronicle of January 13, 1934, gives a very full account of the opening ceremony of the new St Lawrence School, taking up most of the page.

It tells us the building was designed by Mr Thomas Scott FRIBA for the accommodation of 250 children. There are now 460 pupils at the school, and it is bursting at the seams.

In a speech, Mr RG Ridge JP, chairman of Feltham Urban District Council and of the Middlesex County Council, spoke of the warm relationship there was with the MCC and the Catholic Schools.

This 75th year of the school is being celebrated with a special fête on Sunday, June 21, in the school grounds, and a warm invitation goes out to all former pupils to attend.

It is hoped that as many as possible will join in the reunion, and have the chance to see round the present day school.

There will also be a display of old Feltham photographs by the Feltham History Group. Further details can be obtained from the school office.