VOLUNTARY HELP RESTORES KENTISH VILLAGE CHURCH

Front Our Own Correspondent St. Joseph's Church Hall, St Mary Cray, Kent, built in nine months at a cost of little over £3,000 by voluntary labour, was opened for the Christmas Midn ght Mass when more than 350 people filled it to capacity.
The hall, which adjoins the temporary school at Rowlands Manor, gives the parish its first permanent church since April 1941 when church, presbytery and school were wiped out in one night by a severe bomb attack on the village.
In the intervening years Mass has been said in the hall of St. Philomena's Convent School.
The new building is 95f1. long by 30ft. wide, is solidly built of brick and steel alloys and has a permanent stage with rooms in the rear, now used as a weekday chapel and a sacristy.
All this work has been accomplished by parishioners and Irishmen from a nearby building camp.