Their first move was to prepare a room as a Chapel but there was some delay in obtaining the altar and vestments so another room was made into a ward for patients and on the Feast of Our Lady's Nativity (8th September) the Home was declared open. The first patient arrived on the 9th September and by the end of the first week there were eight.

There was considerable support from local people, some of whom provided the flowers to decorate the Chapel when the first Mass was celebrated on the 24th September, the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy.


After the Service, Sister Evangelist took the patients for a drive to the sea and on the way back bought a set of bells which that night rang out their first Convent Chimes. The Sisters then sang their first hymn 'Mother of Mercy' with the feeling that the Convent was at last taking root.

One of the clergy at the Sacred Heart in Bournemouth, the Rev. Henry Schomberg Kerr S.J. (pictured below) was appointed Chaplain and his support and guidance helped the Community through the difficulties and pressures which presented themselves daily.

On 2nd October Sister Mary Camillus Wemyss was transferred from Great Ormond Street to Bournemouth and the Bishop then recognised the Sisters as a Religious Community and appointed Sister Mary Evangelist as Reverend Mother Superior.

Presents of furniture and bedding now came from their friends and supporters and encouraged the Sisters in their work.

Early in 1889 Father Kerr encouraged another supporter, Mrs Nelly Maitland, to hire an American organ for the Chapel.

She played it for Benediction and other occasions and eventually gave it to the Convent. Sadly, Mother Evangelist died in March of that year, and after some deliberation it was decided to invite Sister Mary Clare Joseph Liddon of the Convent at Abingdon to take charge. On the 14th April she and Sister Mary Agatha Mulholland set out for Bournemouth.

Sister Mary Clare Joseph found the Sisters overworked so two more joined the Home from Abingdon, Sister Mary Berchmans Lalor and a Sister Patricia.

In August of the same year the Sisters took on the teaching duties of St Walburga's School which was now established in Yelverton Road.

A Committee of Management was appointed in 1891 to meet the requirements of the Hospital Sunday Fund. The Chairman was Rev. R. Cooney S.J. from the Sacred Heart, and among other members were Colonel Colthurst, Henry Morden-Bennet, Lady Heathcote and The Hon. Mrs Scott Murray.

When Mrs Blake revisited the Home in 1892 she asked that a Home for men be established in memory of her late husband and promised £2,000 towards the cost.

Next door, Ulverstone Grange, a 'desirable looking residence in its own well laid out grounds' was vacant and after negotiation, was leased to the Sisters at £220 a year, for seven years. It was opened as the Men's Home on the 8th September, 1893, with the arrival of five patients. The following year the two houses were joined by a covered passage.

In the Summer of 1896 Baroness Elizabeth von Hugel proposed that the iron Chapel which was being dismantled at Boscombe to make way for a new Church being built by her daughter, Baroness Pauline von Hugel, should be re-erected at St. Joseph's.

She offered to help with the removal expenses. The Bishop agreed and the Chapel was opened on the 21st November, the Feast of Our Lady's Presentation. It was to serve the Community for the next sixty-four years until 1959 when the new Chapel was built.

The owner of the Men's Home, Ulverstone Grange, died in 1905 and some anxiety was understandably felt when the heir decided to sell the house.

The Bishop agreed that the Community could borrow some money to buy the property which they were eventually able to do. Shortly after Mr Fullerton gave the Sisters £5,000 in memory of his wife thus enabling them to buy Mineham outright.