In 1923 Daniel Cotter, a parishioner of Corpus Christi, donated a plot of land in Baytree road, Milton, to Corpus Christi for the purpose of building a small wooden Chapel-of-Ease called Our Lady of Lourdes to serve the congregations of Milton and Worle. This small chapel soon could not cope with the population growth in Milton and Worle, so that in 1933 the land between the existing chapel and Milton Road was purchased for £560, with a view to building a much larger and permanent church for Milton, Worle, Banwell and Locking when funds became available.

The church was built in the Gothic style in Taunton Vale cream bricks and was completed in 1938 at a cost of £4000. It was L-shaped with a north transept, which contained a sacristy and a confessional. This church was still a part of Corpus Christi Parish until October 1964, when the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes was founded. A house near the church in Milton Road was bought as a presbytery.

The Church was then consecrated on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, February 11th 1978.
1964 -1967: Fr William O’Callaghan
Parish Priest successively at Stroud, Henbury and Portishead and appointed Canon. When he retired he could boast of a long period of good health until he eventually fell ill and died in 2003.

1967 – 1967 – Fr Edward HickRetired sick, then from 1969 was chaplain to Prior Park prep. school Cricklade, but his illness returned in 1972 and he retired to St Angela’s Convent in Clifton, Bristol, operated by The Sisters of the Temple, where he died peacefully on 5th December 1977.

1968 – 1972 – Fr Dr Mervyn Alban Alexander
Ordained as auxiliary Bishop of Clifton and lived in Bath, then became Bishop of Clifton. Retired in 2001 as bishop, he became parish priest at St Josephs, WsM until 2007, when he went to St Angela’s Nursing Home in Clifton, Bristol, where he died on 14th August 2010, aged 85.

1972 – 2002 – Fr Michael O’Sullivan
Retired to his birth place in a little village, Boherbue, outside Cork where his family still live. He died on 5th July 2015, aged 84.

2002 – 2015 – Fr Martin Queenan
Left to take over the Parish of St George in Warminster, where he is now..

2015-2019 – Fr. Alexander Redman
Left to move to cover Glastonbury, Shepton Mall, Cheddar and Wells.

2019 – Canon Tom Gunning
Currently covers the three parishes of Corpus Christi, Our Lady of Lourdes and St Joseph’s

in 1980 there were about 20 members in the choir and thanks to John Walcott (the organist and choir master) they sang 4 part harmony. We produced a CD to raise money to help with the cost of the organ which John had installed in 1979. The choir sang in Worle high street coming up to Christmas 1980 to raise money to help those in need after the flooding of Uphill. They would also go to a Care Home near Corpus Christi and sing carols every year. John was organist for about 12 years but then moved on and Geoff Thornton came for a few weeks and stayed for over twenty years. Over that time the choir shrank due to people moving away and some sadly dying. When Geoff retired the choir sang unaccompanied for about a year and then Nigel Parkin took over as organist. After one year Nigel moved on and for a while they sang unaccompanied until Frances Ball volunteered to play. The choir has grown in numbers again and is thriving.

The purpose of this group is to build friendships and social contact with Our Lady of Lourdes parishioners who are housebound because of Illness, disability or other reason and are unable to get to Mass or other parish functions. We visit them regularly in their own home or residential home. On alternate months, those of us making visits meet in the Parish Room to share experiences and discuss any problems we may have met.

We would like to extend these visits to parishioners who are unable to attend Mass for a few weeks because they are recovering from illness and/or hospital treatment.
As a small group, we are limited in the number of people we can visit and would welcome anyone who would be interested in joining us.
Everyone making these visits must have Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance. Arranging this is done through the Parish Safeguarding Officer.

If you would like to join the group or want more information, please contact Mary Studham on telephone number 07929 326752 or see her after Mass on Sundays or Tuesdays.

This is a joint committee which oversees the Parish Finances and the Fabric of the Church, the Presbytery, the Parish Hall, and the Church Grounds.

The Treasurer reports quarterly on the state of the finances, including income and expenditure for the quarter/year.

The Gift Aid Secretary keeps a record of the gift aid donations (standing orders and envelopes) and submits returns to the Diocese. Individual details are confidential and known only to the Gift Aid Secretary.

The committee considers the state of the buildings and grounds whether any work needs to be undertaken and approves the expenditure, or recommends it to the Diocese.

At present there are seven members of the committee, which includes the Parish Priest, the Treasurer and the Gift Aid Secretary.

Our group meets each Wednesday and prayers begin promptly at 3pm, the Hour of Great Mercy, the hour at which Christ died on the cross.
We begin by asking the Holy Spirit for guidance and inspiration. We then pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and associated prayers. Finally we say the Rosary and various prayers in honour of Our Lady.
We receive and honour prayer requests from individuals and any that are written in the book in front of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Throughout our prayers we are particularly mindful of the sick and infirm and make intercessory prayers for them and for world events that are in the news.
Our meeting finishes with tea, cake and chat!

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Bible Study is held once a month, usually on the second Tuesday, in the Parish Room of Our Lady of Lourdes. Start time is 7.00 pm and it lasts an hour or an hour and a half at the most.

The aim of the sessions is to explore the gospels by each month reading the gospel for the following Sunday a total of three times in the following manner:

After introductions and an opening prayer, the gospel is read aloud by a volunteer while each member of the group listens for a word, phrase or idea that captures their attention. As individuals recognize that word, phrase or idea, they focus their attention on it, repeating it to themselves.

The gospel is then read a second time with individuals this time focussing their attention on how the the word, phrase or idea speaks to them, what does it mean to them? How is Christ, the Word, speaking to them about their life? And what is Christ, the Word, saying to them about their life? After this second reading all pause silently for a while and then exchange their thoughts about what it was that caught their attention.

The gospel is then read a third and final time and this time individuals ask themselves what it is that God, through the gospel, is asking of them, what is the message of the gospel? After a period of silence members of the group exchange their thoughts on the message of the gospel.

We finish with a closing prayer.

Please come along, one does not have to an an expert on the scriptures, we are all there to learn!