History of St Joseph the Worker

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The story of St. Joseph the Worker began in the 1950’s at St Mary’s Church in Northolt. St. Mary's had a large congregation and it was a very small building. Fr Phillips the parish priest of St Mary’s, at that time, felt that God was telling him to start a new church at the other end of Northolt where there were new housing developments being built. So, a small group of people from St Mary’s who lived in that part of Northolt agreed to leave St Mary’s and start a new church there. It was decided that the church would be called “St Joseph the Worker”.

Initially, they did not have a church building and so they met in a corrugated iron hut down the Old Ruislip Road, the hut was originally a Dog Kennels.

All they had was a suitcase in which were kept the priest’s vestments, a chalice and plate for the bread and wine, a cloth for the altar table and some candles.

After a short while the church congregation grew in number and so had to move to larger premises. They moved to a Community Centre in Edward Road and everyone continued to worship there. After the Community Centre they moved to Arundell Primary School (which was near to Redman Close) where they worshipped each Sunday in the School Hall.

The church family continued to increase in number and everyone soon realised that a larger, more practical church building was desperately needed. People worked hard to pay for that first church. Each week they would donate money for one or two bricks or however many bricks they could afford. They made cakes and toys and sold them to raise enough money to build their new church.

A dual purpose church/community hall was built near to the White Hart roundabout. At last, the first permanent church was built and it stood there for many years.

As the church family continued to grow it was realised that the building no longer met the needs of the congregation. So everyone started to save again and with the help of the Diocese and others they were able to start building this church. The Architects Murray and Maguire were commissioned to design the building.

The Cornerstone was laid on Saturday 16th September, 1967. It can be seen at the base of the wall in the car park. While the church was being built, it caused much controversy amongst local people because they thought the bell tower looked like a factory chimney and the church itself looked more like a warehouse. The Vicar at that time, the Reverend M.A. Turner, felt he needed to defend the design of the church and said "it is a shape which speaks of strength and permanence."

The Consecration of the new building of St. Joseph the Worker took place on Saturday 15th March, 1969. There was an attendance of more than 600 at the consecration by the Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of London Dr. Robert Stopford. The Bishop was received at the main church entrance by the Rev. Micheal Turner, priest in charge of St. Joseph the Worker, clergy from all the parishes in the deanery, the church wardens and representatives of St. Joseph's Church Council. Among the congregation were the Mayor and Mayoress of Ealing, the Member of Parliament for Ealing North and local Councillors. Also present were representatives of the life of the parish including 12th Northolt Cub Scouts and Scouts, the 6th Northolt Guides and Brownies and the 3rd Northolt Brownies.

The old church hall in Hawtrey Avenue was eventually sold and in 2001 we used the proceeds of the sale and donations to refurbish and improve the facilities offered at St. Joseph's. The Sanctuary area in the main body of the church and the Lady Chapel were also improved. The Sanctuary area was enlarged, the handrail removed and a new altar, lectern and font were installed. The Lady Chapel was modernised. The old concrete baptismal font by the front door was removed which enabled us to create a community facility called the Dovetail Centre, which included a new larger lounge area, a small kitchen and improved toilets.