Cardinal comes to call

4:31pm Thursday 19th June 2008

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IMAGINE the Archbishop of Canterbury coming to Devizes to raise money for a new church in the centre of the town and you will have some idea what excitement there was in the town on June 20 1928.

Cardinal Bourne was not only Archbishop of Westminster and the Metropolitan, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, but also throughout the British Empire.

His visit was so prestigious that the Great Western Railway even had a handbill printed to advertise the event, which took place in the Corn Exchange.

Bill Crosbie-Hill, who attended St Joseph's between 1940 and 1943, has researched into the historic occasion.

The occasion of the visit of His Eminence was to help raise money for the addition of two classrooms at St Joseph's School.

The Gazette of May 3 1928 reported a county council meeting where opposition to this scheme was aired, based on the fear that such an extension would be a rival to the new senior school opened in Southbroom Park.

But St Joseph's, being denominational, was an "unsupported school", and all opposition was dropped when it was made clear that no taxpayers' money would be involved in providing the 60 to 70 additional places.

The grand bazaar was fully reported in the Gazette of June 21 1928.

A large company had greeted the Cardinal at the opening of the bazaar, which was organised by Father Louis Valluet at the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Cardinal Bourne travelled from London in a reserved compartment on the 10.30 from Paddington, the Cornish Riviera Express.

The train slipped a pair of coaches to arrive at Westbury at 12.08 where, among others, the Cardinal was met by Father Louis.

Father Louis greeted the Cardinal by singing the antiphon, which was repeated by an assembly of children.

The Mayor of Devizes gave the Cardinal a civic welcome, describing him as a great and a good Englishman of whom his compatriots were justly proud.

The Cardinal replied, praising the beauty of both the countryside and the town and eliciting much applause.

At the end of the afternoon more than £200 had been collected for the two new classrooms and, although this does not seem much now, it would be the equivalent of about £20,000 in today's prices.

Cardinal Bourne was driven to Lavington Station to catch the train back to Paddington, a reminder of how valuable a rail link was to the area at that time.