FIRE

On 8 January, 1963 the Christmas crib caught fire and caused considerable damage to the west end of the church. Father Walker arranged with the Education Authorities for Sunday Masses to be said in the school dining hall and, as in days of yore, older boys spent part of Friday afternoon arranging the altar and chairs for use on Sunday. After Evening Mass the congregation replaced the chairs and tables for dining-room use for the rest of the week. Masses during the week, funerals and weddings were said in the convent chapel. In the parish a committee was set up to organise money-making activities to pay for the renovation of the church, and for the next few months the parish was a beehive of activity with every organisation from Ladies' Guild and Men's Society down to Our Lady's Cadettes making their own contribution.

At last the repairs were done, the renovations complete and the church opened again, although without the Polish candelabra and the pulpit. A new pulpit was erected. A new high altar of Creetown granite graced the renovated sanctuary and a baptismal font, also of Creetown granite, was put in a baptistery at the side of the porch. The rest of the porch was cut off by a glass partition. A new floor was laid throughout the church and new confessionals were made at each side. New Stations of the Cross were placed around the walls. A new electric organ was installed in the new choir loft. The tabernacle and two new carved wooden statues of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady were donated by the children of the parish in both the primary and secondary departments of St. Michael's. More than one person was heard to express the opinion that it had been the best fire there ever was!

In 1966 Father Walker moved to Prestwick and Father Thomas J. Murphy became parish priest of St. Mary's