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 Poor Clare convent (the Oaks) damaged by fire, later demolished in 1974. |
On March 12th 1970, the Poor Clares left the Oaks due to a fall in the number of sisters. For a while it was debated whether the house could be used as a school for the Deaf but the building was rotting, aided and assisted by the work of thieves and vandals. The Trustees of the English Franciscan Province wanted to demolish it and, for a while, Father Guardian became involved in a fierce struggle with the G.L.C. who maintained the building was listed and should be protected. Father Guardian's eloquence,aided eloquence, aided by the London Borough of Redbridge, at last convinced the tribunal that the building was nothing but a shell, a danger to children and prohibitively expensive to renovate. It was demolished in 1974 and the site sold for a housing development with a new access road, Friars Gate Close.
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 1981: St.Thomas of Canterbury church and Franciscan friary. |
To the south of the church Ivy Lodge continued to be used by parish organisations as well as by the schools but a series of disastrous fires in 1970/71 led to its demolition in 1972. This break up of the old site, the sale of Montclair for St. Paul's School and other small plots to the diocese for schools led to demands for a complete and radical overhaul of the remaining site with the possibility of a new church and parish centre being built.
The state of the church gave impetus to these demands. A new drive had been laid in 1948 and in 1949 there had been an attempt to remedy the dampness. In 1953 the church was freshly painted, repaired and re-wired and the organ overhauled. In 1954 new altar rails were erected and smaller windows inserted above the community choir. In 1959 the floor of the sacristy and sanctuary were re-conditioned and outside toilets installed for the use of parishioners. In 1962 the statue of St. Thomas of Canterbury on the front gable above the main door was replaced and, in 1963, new tennis courts and a pavilion were laid out. Nevertheless, these were piecemeal measures and by the 1970's there was a general consensus that St. Thomas of Canterbury was not suitable for the new liturgical changes ushered in by the Second Vatican Council. The disappearance of Ivy Lodge and the Oaks prompted calls by the organisations such as the c.p.e.a. for the entire site to be razed. However, the cost was prohibitive and the community, after specialist advice, decided to renovate the inside of the church, particularly the sanctuary.
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 St. Thomas of Canterbury church. |
In 1976 at the cost of £36,000 a general restoration was implemented. The old rood screen, altar and choir were demolished and the sanctuary was divided by glass doors. Behind these was the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament which would serve both as a choir for the community and as mass chapel during the week. In front of the doors was the sanctuary proper with its new altar in which are sealed relics of two Roman Martyrs, Constantine and Domitilla as well as one of Pope Pius X. The effect of this "division" has been a constant source of praise on aesthetic as well as liturgical grounds. Other changes assisted this transformation. The sanctuary floor was raised and tiled, flanked by Purbeck marble steps as were the steps up to the new tabernacle on the east end wall. The chapel windows were re-glazed, the previous pictures of the saints being set in a tinted diamond effect. The new altar and lectern were of Westmoreland slate and Clipsham stone and new confessionals were fashioned out of the pre-existing private mass chapels in the nave. The wiring, electric fittings and heating were renewed and a new gas fire boiler installed. The walls were washed and painted and the ceiling of the sanctuary lined with hardboard. The floors were made good, sanded and sealed, the organ completely overhauled and the sound amplifying systems installed. this later proved unsatisfactory and so had to be replaced. During the renovation, all the furniture was removed into the car park where it was thoroughly cleaned and polished. In September 1976 the church was formally re-opened after the consecration of the new altar by the Bishop.
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 Left: 1960; a view from the choir loft of the nave and sanctuary capturing the double-wedding of Monica Archer to |
One other radical change, occasioned by the opening of St. Paul's School, was that a dual carriageway had been built between Sydney and Whitehall Roads. This widening cut off a large area of the garden in front of the church and, in part compensation, a new car park was laid out in 1965 by the Borough Council. In 1980, once the Church restoration bill had been paid, work began on the old Franciscan House of Studies, converting the old refectory kitchen and dwelling quarters into a parish centre called The Becket with its largest room The Henrietta Suite. The Franciscan community were given new quarters at the rear of the building. The work was long and arduous but, by 1987, it was finished and the parish had its centre as well as the additional car parking facilities.