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Blessing of the church site prior to construction starting, 1954.

The foundation stone being laid by Bishop Leo Parker, 1955.

Church construction site, viewed from Norwich Road. 1955.

Newly completed church taken 1956.

The blessing and official opening of the newly completed church, October 1956.

Parishioners on the occasion of the blessing and formal opening, October 1956.

Procession at the blessing and formal opening, October 1956.

Early view of completed church viewed from Norwich Road. 1963.

The official opening and blessing of the church hall by Bishop Parker, 1963.

Fr Gerard Conlon, first Parish Priest, and Bishop Leo Parker, at the opening of the church hall, 1963.

Internal view of the altar and sacristies, 1963.

Parishioners with Fr Bull at his Silver Jubilee party in the church hall, 1965.

An early parish meeting in the church hall, circa 1965.

Fr A S Bull, parish priest, relaxing on Clacton beach during altar servers outing circa 1965.

Parish football team, names unknown, date thought to be about 1970.

First Holy Communion group, date thought to be 1974.

The stained glass installed in the eastern wall in 1978.

Parish pilgrimage group walking the Holy Mile at Walsingham, 1981.

Farewell party for Fr Anthony Sketch, 1982.

Farewell party for Fr Anthony Sketch, 1982.

Presentation to Fr Anthony Sketch at his farewell party, presented by Mr James Poll, 1982.

Canon Edward McBride with Bishop Alan Clarke at the celebration marking Canon McBride's 40th Jubilee, 1983.

Canon McBride cutting the cake, pictured with Bishop Alan Clarke, chair of the parish council Mr James Poll and parishioners, 1983.

Mr Peter Cleary playing the organ acquired from Hadleigh Church in the late 1980s. Date of picture unknown.

Fr Michael Griffin's 30th anniversary of Ordination garden party, June 2003.

St Patrick's Night party in the church hall, 2004.

Young parishioners raising funds towards attending World Youth Day, St Patrick's Night 2004.

Inside view of the church circa 2005.

The altar and eastern wall circa 2005.

The church hall circa 2008.

Church viewed from Norwich Road circa 2008.

The presbytery garden circa 2008.

Pen and ink sketch by Elliott Garbett, 2014, used as a Christmas card.

The view from the corner of Norwich Road, circa 2015.

New altarware donated by the Andrews family in memory of Noel Andrews RIP, 2018.

The temporary lectern prior to its replacement in 2019.

Inside view after new lighting installed and stone lectern and font reinstated, 2019.

View from the left of the refurbished sanctuary area, December 2019.

View from the right of the refurbished sanctuary area, December 2019.

An empty church during the floor refurbishment work, December 2019

The original stone font, reinstalled in 2019.

The re-installed stone lectern, December 2019.

Crib and Christmas decoration, December 2019.

View from the gallery, February 2020.

Baptism during the 10:00 Sunday Mass, February 2020.

View down the central aisle 2020. Note new lighting, refurbished pews and reinstated stone lectern and font.

Church notice board. This was replaced as part of the new parish room works in 2021.

The statue of the Madonna and Child.

The statue of Our Lady of Walsingham in the side altar.

The cross on the apex of the western gable.

The statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, installed by Fr Gerard Conlon in memory of his mother.

The rose window in the western wall.

The statue of St Joseph the Worker.

The crucifix on the eastern wall.

The new church notice board, donated by the Campbell family in memory of Jamie, RIP 2021.

The new Garden Room, funded by private donation and completed in 2021.

The cross, which now adorns the Garden Room, initially marked Monica Ford's grave.

The Parish Garden Party 2023.

The decorated sanctuary, Christmas 2023.

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Most obvious were changes in the mass, which had previously been said in Latin, with the priest facing away from the congregation, often praying silently. After the Council, the feel of the mass changed drastically. It was now to be conducted in the language of the people and participation was encouraged in new ways, with new possibilities granted for music and singing, and women allowed into upfront roles as readers and Eucharistic ministers, as well as altar servers in some places.

To allow such changes to be implemented at St Mary Magdalens, major changes were required to the layout of the church built in the 1950s. The architect and driving force in carrying out these changes was Fr Anthony Sketch and, under his guidance, the church was re-modelled in 1978:

• The original sacristies were removed and a new sanctuary created;

• A new stone altar, facing the people, and a new lectern were commissioned, each matching the original font. The font was moved from the rear baptistry to the sanctuary;

• A mezzanine choir gallery was created over the entrance with new sacristies for robing and a confessional;

• Magnificent stain glass was commissioned for the eastern wall behind the new sanctuary;

• New lighting was installed.

At the same time, the church was re-decorated in the papal colours, new robes were ordered for the altar servers and matching sacred vessels, crucifix, tabernacle, candle holders, processional cross, thurible, paschal candle stand, cruets, presidential chair and servers chairs were obtained - paid for by parish subscriptions. A second-hand pipe organ was acquired from Hadleigh church and installed into the new gallery.

The result was a very attractive church interior suitably updated to reflect the changes instigated through Vatican II. Following the re-modelling, the church was consecrated on the feast of St Mary Magdalen, 22^nd July 1979.

The re-modelled church in 1979

Through a collaboration with our friends at the Hollesley Bay Colony, the original church pews which were very dark in colour, were stripped to bare wood and refurbished in 2016 and finished in a lighter colour. Also in 2016, a new sound system was installed.

In 2017, a new electronic organ was installed, funded as the parish project through the Diocesan Alive in Faith initiative, and the old pipe organ was re-homed to a church in Poland. The gallery, built as part of the 1978 conversion, was revised in 2018 with the curtain wall being lowered to improve visibility of the altar from the gallery and new wrought iron balustrade installed.

In 2019, the church lighting was upgraded to new LED fittings to reduce running costs and eliminate high level work required to replace lamps in the old units.

The latest works completed in December 2019 can be seen in the pictures below and include the re-instatement of the original 1955 stone font and matching lectern from the 1979 remodelling, both of which were removed in the noughties. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to refurbish and refinish the floor.

The church is served by Ipswich Buses routes 9 and 10 with stops adjacent to the corner of Highfield Approach.

The church hall and car park is on the opposite side of Highfield Approach. Parishioners and visitors are encouraged to use the car park rather than park on Highfield Approach, which gets congested and where parked vehicles restrict access to neighbouring properties.

The hall is available for private hire subject to availability. If you are interested in hiring the hall, please first check its availability using the hall booking calendar. Booking requests can be submitted using our on-line form or you can use the contact form to get in touch with the hall manager.

The presbytery at 468 Norwich Road, was acquired by the diocese on 6^th October 1954. This property had a large side extension and this became known as the "Guild Room", initially being used as a chapel where Mass was celebrated daily during the week and on Sundays at 8:00. A second Sunday Mass was celebrated in the Safe Harbour at 10:30.

In 1955, the corner plot of land adjacent to the presbytery on Highfield Approach, was acquired and work started to build a permanent new church on that site. On October 29^th, 1955, Bishop of Northampton, Leo Parker, laid the foundation stone of the new building and returned on June 1^st 1956 to solemnly bless the completed church. Sadly, Canon Peacock who had played a major role in the founding the new parish of St Mary Magdalen, passed away on 7^th May 1956 and never saw the completed parish church.

St Pancras primary school moved from the old hall in St Pancras church to a newly built property in Stratford Road, and was taken under the wing of the new St Mary Magdalen parish. The new school buildings, consisting of three classrooms, were blessed by Bishop Parker on March 21^st, 1958. On October 12^th 1961, two more classrooms and a new school hall were officially opened and blessed.

The next challenge for Fr Conlon was the building of a church hall. Land was acquired on Highfield Approach, on the opposite side of the road to the church, and the hall and car park were built on this site. The hall was officially opened in March 1963 and blessed by Bishop Parker, but this joyous occasion of the hall's opening was saddened when Bishop Parker took the opportunity to announce to the parish that Fr Conlon was to be moved to St Josephs, Luton. Sadly, just three years later, Fr Conlon passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on 12^th December 1966.

Apart from a thriving parish, another legacy attributable to him is the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, mounted on the outside wall of the presbytery and visible to all passing by on Norwich Road. This statue was erected in memory of Fr Conlon's mother who passed away on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, 11^th February 1960. The statue is surrounded by a climbing rose which routinely produces magnificent flowers in spring and summer.

The adjacent pictures show early views of the newly opened church, interior and exterior views. The exact dates of these photographs is unknown but they would both have been taken in the late 1950s shortly after the church was completed.

With grateful thanks to N C Andrews, T M and J F Cleary for content and photographs.

• Pauline Richardson, who lived with her parents in the parish and attended the Convent School of Jesus and Mary in Woodbridge Road, became a nun in the order of Jesus and Mary on leaving school in the mid 1950s. She served with her order in Bolivia and more recently in Syria.
• On 16^th December, 1978, Fr Patrick Cleary, son of one of the founding families of the parish, was ordained priest by Bishop Alan Clark at the Cathedral church of St John the Baptist in Norwich.
• Iain Mathew, son of a prominent Ipswich catholic family who regularly attended St Mary Magdalens, became a Carmelite and was ordained priest July 2^nd, 1986 at the Carmelite church in Gerrards Cross.
• Fr Michael Collis, a parishioner of St Mary Magdalen parish, was ordained priest for the Diocese of East Anglia by Bishop Michael Evans, July 10^th 2010.
• More recently, Paul Nelson, a parishioner of St Mary Magdalens, became a religious brother. He is now Brother Dunstan OSB in the Benedictine community at Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire, having taken his vows Sunday February 2^nd 2014.

Fr Patrick Cleary on the occasion of his first Mass at St Mary Magdalens 17^th December 1978, on the day after his ordination. To his right is Fr Sketch, parish priest and to his left is Fr Lane from the seminary where Fr Pat trained.

Souvenir prayer card from Fr Pat Cleary's ordination, 16^th December 1978.

The Church of St Mary Magdalen, Ipswich 2020

St Mary Magdalen is the first Ipswich church that many visitors see, standing as it does on Norwich Road, the main way into town from the midlands and the north. Set back from the road, it has the presbytery beside it, a Madonna on its wall surrounded by roses.

It opened in 1956, to serve the rapidly expanding population of this area. Carved out of St Pancras parish, it retains the St Pancras Catholic primary school under its wing. This is a wide, mixed parish, from the pleasant well-to-do villages west of Ipswich, to challenging and deprived Whitton, Suffolk's poorest housing estate.

Despite the grandly herring-boned west end, it is the least architecturally significant of the five Catholic churches in Ipswich. But what it does have is a superb east end, with the finest coloured glass of any of them. In vivid reds, interspersed with contrasting panes, it represents the Sanctus of the Mass. A simple, beautiful crucifix hangs beneath.

Nearby, the foundation stone of the church records grandly in Latin that Leo, Bishop of Northampton, laid this stone to mark the beginning of the raising of the church dedicated to St Mary of Magdala on the 29^th October 1955, when Pius XII was Pope. Latin does not ring around its walls as much as it did then, but this church remains a simple and beautiful place. (Text taken from suffolkchurches.co.uk)

St Mary Magdalens church, 2014. A pen and ink sketch by Elliott Garbett.

Mary Magdalen was the first recorded witness to the resurrection of Jesus, His most ardent and loving follower. She had stood with His mother Mary at the foot of the cross on that brutal Good Friday afternoon and had been by the side of Mary during those difficult hours. On Easter morning, she went with the other women to the tomb and it was there, in the garden near the tomb, that Jesus appeared to her. It was she who brought the news of the resurrection to the apostles, causing Peter and John to race to the tomb to see what had happened.

She was from Magdala, a small fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Tiberias. She was known to be a "great sinner", a woman of the streets who heard Jesus speak of the mercy and forgiveness of God and subsequently changed her life completely. This tradition explains why Mary Magdalen was revered for centuries as the "model penitent". Her matter-of-fact witness to the resurrection moved Peter and John to go and see for themselves: "I have seen the Lord and these things he said to me". Jesus had chosen her to bring the news to them and she simply told them what had happened.

She has always been an example of great love and great forgiveness, one of those close to Jesus who grasped the truth of God's love for human beings and spent her life bearing witness to that love.

The feast day of our Patron Saint is celebrated each year on July 22^nd.