he beautiful and imposing church of St. Anthony's was opened on 3rd November 1960, but the beginning of St. Anthony's Parish like that of all the Wythenshawe parishes was a very slow dribble, followed by a steady flow to saturation point. this dribble began in 1949, a document dated 11th February 1951, stated that a building licence was granted for the erection of a nissen hut, this was a real landmark in the start of the parish. This document marks the beginning of the Parish of St Anthony's, because it bought into existence the famous "Green Hut". After the granting of the licence, the Nissen hut was erected and occupied within weeks, and on the morning of April 15th 1951, Father Murphy offered the first mass in what was to become the parish of St Anthony's. There were 184 people at the Mass, and the people of Woodhouse Park were continually cared for by the clergy of St. John's, Benchill, until Father M. B. Kehoe was appointed the first Parish Priest of the new parish. He was already curate at St. John's and he took up residence inthe newly built presbytery on Friday 24th April 1953, St Anthony's was born.
t is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the "Green Hut" in the making of this parish. Because of it's position, facing the main approach to the estate,and because it was the first building to be erected in Wood House Park, the Green Hut has carved a niche for itself in local history. As well being a Mass centre, the hut soon became the centre of the whole community, Catholic and none Catholic alike.
ass continued to be celebrated in the "Green Hut" . Within weeks of the first Mass, a second Mass was added and then a third. But even so with three masses there were often more people outside the hut than in it. Mass was celebrated there until the Infants school was opened on 13th June 1954. Then Mass was transferred to the small hall and on 30th August of the same year, the junior hall was ready for use, from then on, the the junior hall together with the school dinning room were used for Mass. There were now six Masses Every Sunday and the population of the parish had settled down to about 6,000, the majority of whom were children.
e must come back to the "GreenHut" and the many uses to which it was put. The end came on 4th October 1960 it only took a few hours for the work men to demolish it, but right up to the end it served the parish, because when the building started on the new Church the contractor cut the "Green Hut" in two and used one half for storage and the other half for the workmen's canteen.
