Services in a Carpenter’s Shop! A singularly appropriate place the reader may say; so indeed it was, but that is not quite the beginning of the story of St. Francis Mission
Originally what is now the Parish of St. Aldhelm was part of the older parish of All Saints, Branksome Park, and something like forty years ago that part of the Parish now centring on Guest Avenue, Cornelia Crescent and Winston Avenue began to develop. It was moorland belonging to the Wimborne Estate and sold off in lots of ¼ acre to one acre or more in extent and developed as Small Holdings. Hence this part of the Parish was known as the small holdings for a very long time, and right from the early days the Parish Priests had been concerned with the spiritual welfare of the people making their homes in this new developing area. Each year the Incumbent would leave his Vicarage in the Park and stay for a week or two with a parishioner near the new houses so that he could visit this area. About this time too open air services, sponsored by the C.E.M.S. were held at a central point in the area known as Tubbs Corner (now famous as a local ‘bus stop!) and also this area was covered in the annual Rogationtide Procession.
All this foundation work began to bear fruit in 1934 when through the kindness of Mr and Mrs Butler, Sunday School and Services were started in the Carpenter’s shop at No. 31 Guest Avenue. Sunday School opened on March 11th with 19 children under Sister Nobbs,C.A. (the Parish Worker). The first service was on Good Friday, March 30th conducted by the Vicar, The Rev’d F. P. Crosse; some 62 people were present and extra chairs had to be borrowed.
At the first Harvest Festival on the 7th October 1934 there were 90 people present and ever since the Harvest Festival has always held an affectionate place among the people of the Small Holdings. From May 1934 to September 1938 Evensong was held on the first Sunday in the month and also there was a Service on Good Friday evening each year. The Sunday School continued to flourish all this time and in the autumn of 1934 the Women’s Fellowship was started by Sister Nobbs and soon taken over by Miss Barker and Miss J. M. Smooker.
Clubs were started for Girls and Boys. First the Girl’s Club under Miss Strapp which was later taken over by the Misses Smooker, and continued until the outbreak of the last war. Later came the Boy’s Club and the first Warden was Mr Craggs, helped by Mr. Sprackling; after the outbreak of war these two men joined the Forces and the Club was taken over by Mr. Saltmarsh and continued for a year or two longer; finally it ceased when most of the members had been called-up for war service.
These early Carpenter’s Shop days were very much pioneering as the workshop had to be cleaned and made ready for services and meetings and turned into a work-shop again afterwards; this entailed a great labour of love, a large share of which was borne by Miss Ellen Barker (now Mrs. Gardiner); there were many other willing helpers too numerous to mention in this brief history.
Soon after the opening of the workshop Mrs. Husey-Hunt of Branksome Park (for many years a great benefactress of St. Aldhelm’s) gave the Vicar £500 for the purchase of a site for a more permanent building for the work among the Small Holdings.
It was not, however, until 1938 that a move was made towards this when the opportunity occurred to purchase two houses on a corner-site – Nos. 1 and 3 Winston Avenue, at the junction of Winston Avenue and Alder Road. With a good deal of foresight the P.C.C. under the leadership of the Vicar, TheRevd. R.L.Higham purchased this property, with a view eventually to use one of these houses as a Parsonage, pull down the other one and build a Church and Hall. However, as a first step it was necessary to let one house and use the other as a Mission House. To do this No. 3 had to be adapted by making the Dining and Sitting Rooms into one and removing the fireplaces, thus providing a large room for services or meetings. This was quickly accomplished and on October 1st 1938 the "little house" (as it became affectionately known locally) was Blessed and Named in honour of St. Francis. This was a happy choice as the life and example of St. Francis has inspired those who worshipped in the "little house" and in the present building; moreover the figure of St. Francis appears with St. Aldhelm in the East Window of the Lady Chapel in the Parish Church. October 2nd 1938 was a Sunday and from that day forward the Holy Communion has been celebrated every Sunday at 9 a.m. with three hymns and an address; Sunday School has been held in the afternoon and Evensong with a Sermon at 6.30p.m. The Women’s Fellowship and the clubs used the house and occasionally it was let for local social activities.
The "Little house" carried on bravely all through the war years and soon after the start of the last war Mr. and Mrs. Saltmarsh came to live in the parish, and Mr. Saltmarsh was given charge of the work at St. Francis by the Vicar.
After the war the Parish was able to turn its attention to providing a more suitable building for worship for the community which had gathered round the Mission House, and it was also thought that if a curate could be found the house could be restored as a dwelling for him.
In 1950 it was decided by the P.C.C. under the leadership of Revd. R.A.Wells to go ahead with the building of a pre-fabricated Hall/Church at the back of the site. This was to be a dual purpose building with a sanctuary and vestry at the east end which could be shut off as required, and with a kitchen and toilets at the west end.
The building was designed and erected by Mr. Gerald Hopkins of Canford Cliffs and was completed in January 1951. It was Dedicated by the Lord Bishop of Salisbury (The Rt. Revd. W.L.Anderson. D.S.C., D.D., M.A.) on the Eve of St. Paul’s Day, 24th January 1951, and the first celebration of the Eucharist in the new building was the next day, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul at 9.a.m. There were 180 people present for the Dedication and 36 Communicants the following morning.
In February 1952 the Vicar, the Revd. J.C.Mayer, appointed the Revd. R.C.H.Corbin as Curate of St. Aldhelm’s and gave him charge of the work at St. Francis.
Since then the work has continued quietly and steadily building up the worshipping community centred in the Eucharist at St. Francis. The 9 o’clock celebration has come to be the mainstay of the life of the community and is called the Family Eucharist. This enshrines that spirit in which we try to live and worship and work together – the Family Spirit – God’s Family.
During the past three and a half years the church has been beautified and enriched by many gifts and much labour of love, and it is a great tribute to the spirit of the Family that everything which is done for the Church is done out of generous love, without payment.
In this year of Grace 1955 the Mission is twenty-one years old; it is a far cry to the days of the open air services and the diligent pastoral care by the Parish Priests of the developing area of the Small Holdings, but this seed is clearly bearing fruit and yielding, under God’s good hand, a true harvest of souls won for Him and His Church.. Looking back over the years we cannot help giving thanks to God for all His mercy and loving-kindness and for the way in which He has allowed us to co-operate with Him in building His Kingdom in this part of our parish.
This story of the Mission of St. Francis in the Parish of Branksome St. Aldhelm is but a brief account of it’s history; an attempt to preserve for posterity the important facts of the story. Within this compass we cannot hope to mention the names of all who have been connected with the Mission, but let it suffice to say that some of the older members of the Family are still with us – Mrs. Butler; Mrs. Whiting (who still so lovingly and splendidly cleans our Church Brass), Miss Smooker still leading the Women’s Fellowship on Tuesdays; Mr. E. Combleton, associated with the Mission from the beginning, and only recently after so many years of devoted service, has had to relinquish the post of Deputy Warden, owing to ill health; this post is now held by Mr. S. Parish; Mrs. Wellman who was the first secretary of our Free Will Offering Scheme and Mr. & Mrs. Saltmarsh, who have done so much to build up the life and work of the Mission. As this booklet goes to press the Priest in Charge, the Revd. R.C.H. Corbin, leaves to take up a new appointment.
Finally, we would like to express our thanks for all that has been done in the past twenty-one years, and to ask our friends to continue to pray for the building of God’s Kingdom in this part of the Parish.
By coincidence, after the Parish had no further use for the building, Cllr Ray Parish, the nephew of the Stan Parish mentioned in Fr Corbin's booklet, who was a server at St Francis and St Aldhelms, undertook the negotiations on behalf of the Scout Council for its purchase. Ray Parish also employed Parsons and Joyce for the renovation works and acted as the client's "Clerk of Works" throughout the contract.