St Francis' Nailsea
History of St Francis of Assisi Parish 1982 - current
Prior to the establishment of the parish in 1982 we had been served by the Franciscans from Clevedon with Mass being celebrated in various venues since the late 1940s, transferring to a hut erected on the present site in the 1950s and then to the school hall when the the school was completed in 1979.
In March 1982 the Bishop confirmed that Nailsea and Backwell would become a parish in its own right and in September 1982 Fr. Gabriel Leyden arrived and resided in a house purchased for him in Ash Hayes Drive. There was an immediate drive by the parishioners for a proper church and a working party was formed.. After much research the Diocese appointed Stone & Co. Ltd and the architect John Webster to come up with a design. The requirement was for a parish family home with multi purpose use. The design for the present church was commissioned which included screens to partition off the sanctuary area so that during weekdays the church could be used for social and community use. Building commenced on 9th January 1985 to be completed by the end of the year. We took possession before Christmas were able to have an Open Day when anybody could visit and see what had been achieved and we were able to celebrate Christmas Mass in our new church. The Church was officially opened and blessed by the Bishop on 2nd February 1986.
The land on which the church is built had been purchased by the Franciscans in the 1950s and was generously donated to the Diocese/Parish. The part of the site on which the church is built had for years been used as allotments.
The cost of the building was £300,000 and with the sale of the priest’s house and grants and donations the balance of £200,000 was financed with a loan from the Diocese over 15 years. Due to the generosity and dedication of the parishioners we were able to repay the loan 3 years early at the end of 1997. The Church was finally dedicated by the Bishop on 2nd February 1998.
There was a desire to build a proper Church Hall to replace the old hut which had previously been used for a Playgroup. A design was drafted and approval given by the Diocese at a cost of approx. £200,000 and again a loan granted by the Diocese of £120,000 the balance having been found from the regular savings of offertory from the parishioners. Building commenced on 4th January 2000 and in due course the old hut which had served us so well was demolished to provide for more car parking space and all social/community use was transferred to the new Hall. We were able to accommodate many requests from the local community for use of the Hall fulfilling our wish to serve community as well as parish. Later on the screens in the church were removed since the multi functional use of the church was no longer required.
In September 2000 Bishop Mervyn came to celebrate Mass and confer a Papal Knighthhood (KSG - Knight of St. Gregory) on a parishioner for services to Diocese and Parish which was a first for the parish and and honour and privilege for both the parish and the recipient. A celebration was held afterwards in the new Hall.
From the early days the parish has supported many causes the first of which was Ashadam, a community in Goa, India and for many years 2.5% of the offertory was automatically sent to them We have continued always to be an extremely supportive and generous parish to causes in the outside community and abroad. At all times we have been blessed with huge commitment from parishioners and their families . Indeed, we are very blessed to have a team of volunteers who meet every week to maintain the grounds and do whatever minor works they can achieve. They save us many pounds and we are grateful to them for their commitment.
We have been served by many Parish Priests. Fr. Gabriel Leyden, Fr. Graham Gillman, Fr. Michael McAndrew, Fr. Sam Ofia, Fr. Thomas Dubois, Fr. Richard Elson and now Fr. Frank Wainwright. We have also been blessed with two Deacons who have now retired after long service but remain parishioners.
We have a small Memorial Garden where the ashes of some parishioners are interred and where the writer hopes to find a place in due course.
The parish was very supportive during COVID lockdown and mass was said online by our parish priest gving much support during a very difficult period. We are extremely fortunate that our church is open all day, every day for personal private prayer and contemplation in front of the Blessed Sacrament in addition to our normal weekday services.
We welcome Fr. Frank who joined us in September this year and look forward to a blessed and bright and welcoming future under his stewardship.
