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History of St Margaret Mary Parish |
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| The area which comprises the parish of St Margart Mary was originally part of the Parish of the Sacred Heart, Fareham. As the population of the Park Gate are began to grow, an outstation was created to serve the community, and the priest came from Fareham every Sunday to celebrate a Mass in the Territorial Army Drill Hall in Bridge Road, Park Gate. Mass was at 10.15 to coincide with the local bus services and the priest had an earlier service at Wickham. When a permanent church in the area was planned, it was decided that it should be dedicated to St Margaret Mary, as she was the saint who received the vision of the Sacred Heart, thus showing the link with Fareham. The new church was designed by Mr Robert Shaw, the architect husband of one of the parishioners, and it was blessed and opened by Bishop Derek Warlock, who was the Bishop of Portsmouth on the 8th January 1966. It continued to be an outstation of Fareham, and was served by Father Joseph Rea and his assistants, Father Cormac Murphy O’Connor (now Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, currently Archbishop of Westminster) and Father Micheal Gedge. Fr Gedge became the first resident priest in the area when he moved into lodgings in Segensworth Road, so as to provide better pastoral care in this part of the parish. On the 8th September, 1967 the new Parish of St Margaret Mary was formed. Father Kevin Gallagher was appointed parish priest, but as there was no presbytery, the parish bought a bungalow at 9, Admiral’s Road and the priest lived there. The building of the current presbytery and parish hall started in April 1973 and the hall was opened as a social club on Easter Sunday night a year later, with Fr Close taking up residence in the presbytery at the same time. Father Close, who became a Canon while he was at Park Gate, remained as Parish Priest of St Margaret Mar for 14 years, until he was appointed as parish priest of Wantage on 12th July 1981. Canon William Murphy replaced Canon Close and remained here until his retirement on 1st January 1992. During his tenure, the Parish Hall was extended to its current size and our primary school, St Anthony’s was built. A parish office was built in 1994 between the sacristy and the presbytery. On 7th January, 1992 Father James Boyle, a Mill Hill missionary came to replace Canon Murphy for a period of six weeks. He left in 2007! Father John Cooke is now our parish priest. |
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