 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
The Sale of St. Joseph’s College
It had been common knowledge for a while in Mill Hill that St. Joseph’s College was closed for business. The closing Mass was celebrated on 1st July 2006. The General Superior, Fr. Tony Chantry declared at the end of the celebration of the Eucharist: “This college is now closed”. The “For Sale” Sign went up and not long after, it was removed because it was felt that it was inviting unwelcomed visitors to the premises. There were the two unfortunate incidents of people indiscriminately dumping building materials on the driveway leading up to the College.
A lot of members thought that it would probably take a long time before a serious buyer would come forward to make a good offer. However, a lot of prospective buyers came to view the property. There was even one who arrived in his helicopter. By October, the number of prospective buyers was eventually scaled down to those with the highest offers and a date was fixed for the final bidding. Frantic negotiations began soon after and speculations were rife in this final stage when everything had to be done confidentially. For a while it seemed that an announcement was forthcoming and there were a few false alarms.
The official announcement of the Sale of St. Joseph’s College finally came on 29 November 2006 in a circular to all members:
“On 29th November at the offices of Trowers and Hamlins (Lawyers) Tower Hill, London, St. Joseph’s Missionary Society exchanged contracts with Matterhorn Capital St. Joseph’s Two, associated with the Matterhorn group of development companies which has bought St. Joseph’s College with the expressed intention of converting it into a care home for the elderly.
The site we have sold includes all the buildings with the surrounding gardens, car park and roads; not the fields surrounding the college. These will be kept and with cemetery maintained by us. “
With this, all speculations and uncertainties surrounding the College were put to rest. With the reality of the Sale of the College sinking in fast, those remaining members in the College began the arduous task of vacating the remaining furniture and begin the actual move to the new property in Maidenhead.
At that time, some of the houses were still not ready for occupancy. Numerous trips were made to Maidenhead over this period. Up to the very last day, furniture were being cleared away.
Four rem
aining members stayed the last night in the College on 19 December 2006. Early the next morning, at the crack of dawn, the last remaining beds were removed and the cars loaded.
Representatives of the new owners came by for the keys to the college. In the meantime, a shed had been set up at the entrance to the college for the security guard. A gate had also been erected across the main road entrance. As the four members finally left in two cars after 10.30 a.m., dense fog set in to give the departure a feel of closure.
 |
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||