School Chapel, 1974

School Chapel, 1974

The idea of the school chapel was Father Mitcheson’s. He was also the driving force behind its financing and construction, having led a one-man crusade over a number of years to bring the project to fruition. The free-standing, single-storey, flat-roofed prefabricated chapel was erected on land then owned by the diocese, but near to where the old Ardwick Town Hall had once stood. The five sections comprising the chapel arrived unexpectedly one Saturday morning from Hull on five large trucks. Following a phone call from the caretaker, Fr Mitcheson arrived to oversee the delivery. The five sections, each measuring approximately 8ft long, 16ft wide and 10ft high, were taken off the trucks by crane and were then set on a framework of steel, which had to be carefully fixed since the ground beneath was sloping. The sections were bolted together at the top and bottom. It was found that one of the sections was the wrong way round, so the top and bottom bolts were not aligned. Early the following week, another crane was sent for to lift it up and turn it round. Some, but not all, of the sections had windows.

The next task was to furnish the rectangular-shaped chapel. Mr Fred Andrew, the retired former deputy headmaster and former acting headmaster, who had also been a long-serving teacher of woodwork, made its altar and wooden tabernacle casing.  A local church, St Anne’s, Ancoats (which was to be demolished and replaced), donated the benches. Mr Tranter’s metalwork class made the fourteen Stations of the Cross using polished aluminium framed on a bed of purple baize. “The boys were really pleased with their work when they saw them mounted around the chapel,” said Mr Tranter. The areas of the altar and central passage were carpeted. On the wall behind the altar was hung a crucifix. Outside, a cross was attached to the end section facing Ardwick Green Park.

The entrance was at the north end of the chapel, where there were double doors each with a small window in the upper half.  An attractive patio was eventually built outside the entrance, together with an 18-inch-high patio wall and a flagged exit leading towards Ardwick Green North. The patio squares, the patio wall and the flagged exit were put in place by a contractor who was the father of one of the boys. The patio squares were generously given by the Quiligotti family, who had a boy at the school.

Access to the chapel area was via a narrow doorway in the right-hand corner of the wall, as viewed from the chapel entrance and facing towards the upper playground. (See plan.)

Once it was ready, the chapel was put to use. There was no formal opening ceremony or blessing.

In terms of seating capacity, the chapel could comfortably accommodate two classes. There were some occasions when whole-year groups were ‘squashed in’, but these were rare. It was much easier with smaller groups.

For Confessions (every Friday dinner hour) there was a prie-dieu kneeler behind the priest’s chair, so that the penitent was not seen, and a table and chair in front of the priest’s chair, with a crucifix on the table. Boys had the option of using either the kneeler or the chair.

It cost about £5,000 to £6,000 to complete the project, the money being raised from Fr Mitcheson’s efforts which included writing to parents and staging special fund-raising social functions over previous years; there was no charge on the school. Fr Mitcheson had written some 700 letters to parents asking them for £2 per family, to which many responded. 

In the years up to 1977, the chapel did its job and was an asset to the school. Although there were one or two break-ins, no serious damage was done. However, after 1977 there was an increase in vandalism and thefts.