St John's Church celebrates 150 years

The foundation stone for our church in Camborne was laid on 24th June 1858 by Bishop Vaughan, the second bishop of Plymouth. He duly opened and dedicated it to St John the Baptist on 26th May 1859.
It was a fine building of local granite and a testament to the faith of the local Catholics, many of whom had come over from Ireland in time of famine. (Photo from 1909 - exactly 100 years ago).

We were not going to let such an important milestone pass. Bishop Christopher Budd came to celebrate mass for us.

In recent years the church has had a new roof and a complete electrical rewiring.
It has also had a first-class lighting scheme installed and a total repaint.

St John the Baptist seems to be looking on intently as the bishop preaches.

Mercifully, the sun shone - through our beautiful stained-glass windows.

Deacon Peter Gahan incenses the people.

We were graced with the presence of the mayor and the other Christian clergy of the town - something that would certainly not have happened at the church's beginning.

Fr Michael Lock (parish priest from 1986-1989) shares a joke with Fr Chris. Fr Brian Kenwrick (parish priest from 1991-1997) was also present.

But the celebrations hardly finished there. A hog-roast was all prepared in the grounds of St John's School.

Meanwhile the award-winning Camborne Youth Band (several St John's pupils included) played to great effect in the higher playground.

Inside a band of fiddlers from Falmouth accompanied some country dancing (Sr Annunciata kept things jolly as usual)...

...and the evening went out with a bang, as Fr Chris' brother Dominic was able to put on a fine fireworks display in the school playing field. The parish will have to beat that in 50 years time!