1952.

By February 14, 1952, architect Mr Bingham Towner of Uckfield prepared a sketch plan of  the current St Wilfrid’s, and on August 28, 1952, planning permission was granted by the Hailsham Rural District Council, but it was not until the end of that year did the Ministry of Works issue a licence to build. The architect, despite lack of funds and heavy curtailments, yet managed to produce a building that is recognisable as a church and not a hall. Mr Towner went on to design eight churches in the Diocese and many others throughout the country, St Wilfrid’s being his first and cheapest.

The church was intended to be cruciform but only the nave, a rudimentary sanctuary (which is only part of the nave) and a lean-to weather-boarded sacristy could be built with the money available.  Four firms submitted estimates: £4135, £3988, £3971.4s.5d, and £3970.7s.1d.  Though the lowest estimate was only 17s. 4d less than the tender of Thomas Rich, a Hailsham firm located opposite the site, Canon Corballis went with the lowest bid, that of Richard Thorpe Bros, whose workmen had to come daily from Southborough, the far side of Tunbridge Wells, a journey that consumed the money saved many times over!!

1954.

The foundation Stone was blessed by the Rt Rev Cyril C Cowderoy, Bishop of Southwark, on June 12, 1954.  The inscription was composed by the Rev Desmond McCarthy and the letters were carved by Mr Joseph Cribb of Ditchling. As the inscription says, St Wilfrid’s church was blessed and the first Mass offered by the Bishop of Southwark on Ascension Day, 1955, (which in that year fell on May 19).

                                      The Blessing of the Foundation Stone

May 1955.

Both church and contents were insured in May 1955, for £6500, of which roughly £2000 was for contents. No one stepped forward with an offer for the temporary church, which by July 1955, was demolished. The rather imposing exterior doors of the new church came from Normanhurst near Battle, when that mansion, built by Lord Brassey, was demolished. The side porch (now a baptistery) was an afterthought, for which the Hailsham Rural District Council required a re-presentation of the plans. The stone statue of Our Lady was carved by Joseph Cribb in Caen stone costing about £130, was a gift of the Union of Catholic Mothers, arriving in April 1955. That of the Sacred Heart, also of Cean stone by Cribb, costing £127. 16s., was given by Mrs Yates, who was (as previously recorded), President of the UCM.

                         The first Altar in the new Church

1956-57.

Following the death of Canon Corballis, the Rt Rev Mgr Jeremiah John Curtin DD, (more widely known as Canon Curtin) arrived from Haywards Heath in 1956, as the new Parish Priest of Our Lady of Ransom. His association with Hailsham was brief but important, because a year after his arrival, he decided to cut off three sections of his huge parish. The three portions of the parish in question were St Agnes in Eastbourne, the Hampden Park with Polegate area and Hailsham and Hellingly. This drastic surgery involved a struggle for the priests concerned who were left to their own resources, but each district made much quicker progress than ever before.

We are now approaching the history of Hailsham as a separate entity. On September 24, 1957, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Southwark, the Rt Rev Mgr H Gibney, wrote to Father Hill, then curate at Brixton, that Canon Curtin of Eastbourne was anxious to cut off some of his parish.  Father Donaghey had taken St Agnes, leaving Hailsham and Hellingly, and Hampden Park and Polegate, giving Father Hill the choice of either. Each area had a house to live in.

The house in Hailsham was the original church of St Wilfrid, which since its replacement by the Nissan hut, had been changed in 1947 into a two-roomed bungalow by the erection of a partition and some basic domestic conveniences of a simple nature. It was first tenanted by Mr and Mrs Edward Hallett, who maintained the premises in excellent order and also kept an eye on the church.  On Mr Hallett’s death, his widow was agreeable to vacating the cottage in favour of a resident priest.  After the present presbytery was built the partition was removed and the cottage changed into a parish room. 

So, on Sunday October 27, 1957, Canon Curtin said Mass at Hailsham from Eastbourne for the last time amd a niney-year connection with our Lady of Ransom came to an end.