By contrast with the IronChurch, the new building (our present church) cost £7,000. It had taken some 60 years from the time of Mrs White’s gift for Catholics in and around Leighton Buzzard to enjoy a permanent home.
In some respects parishioners today would not recognise our church of 1953, as the original design incorporated large wooden ceiling supports which came down to form arches along the side aisles. There was also a carving of Christ on the cross set high above the front of the altar.
The supports were removed subsequently in the late 1960s after Father Henslow noticed, to his surprise, weeds growing out of what had been thought to be a solid pillar.
Upon inspection, not only were the pillars found to be hollow, but it was clear that they were failing to support the weight of the ceiling, which was falling in, and the church had to be re-roofed.
The altar was turned around in the 1970s following Vatican II.
Upon the arrival of Fr Steve Reith in 1987, the two Mass centres at Wing and Ivinghoe had to be closed, as for the first time since 1966 the number of priests in the parish was reduced to just one priest.
