Our parish priest is Canon Peter Hart and our permanent deacon is Bill Gillan. In fact our parish has been fortunate to have had permanent deacons for over thirty five years now. Our previous deacons (Deacon John O’Connell and Deacon John Walton) were the first two deacons in the diocese.

As well as our Sunday and Week-day Masses, four times a year a special Mass with the Sacrament for the Sick is celebrated at the Parish Centre.

Everyone is welcome and transport is available. The congregation numbers about fifty and there are refreshments afterwards.

We have three Masses on a Sunday with a Children’s Liturgy at the 9.30 Mass, attended usually by somewhere between forty and fifty children. They have two classes and of course parents can stay with the children if they wish. Following their liturgy the children process back into the church - it is vibrant and wonderful to see.

Our church has an interesting history and one which is closely connected to the Clifton family. The church was built in 1890. Before that the closest place of worship for Catholics was St Peters church in Lytham. However the new town of St Annes on the Sea was growing and by 1887 the population had reached 2,000. Canon James Taylor, the parish priest at St Peters determined that the increase in population warranted a catholic church in St Annes and set about finding the money and the will to build one.

In this he was supported by the Clifton family. In 1888 Lady Madeline Clifton, the mother of Squire Talbot Clifton bought the land, leasing it to the church for 999 years. Canon Taylor then approached the Duke of Norfolk, who had married into the Clifton family, for money to pay for the church. The Duke agreed on the understanding that Colonel Clifton and his niece Flora, the Duke’s late wife were commemorated therein. And so the church was built.

The architects were Pugin and Pugin of London, the sons of the renowned church architect Augustus Welby Pugin. (He had died in 1852).

The opening took place on Sunday June 15th 1890. Present was Dr O’Reilly Bishop of Liverpool. Attendance was by ticket only – main body of the church two shillings, chantries one shilling.

The church was named after Flora’s steam yacht which had sailed under the protection of Mary, Star of the Sea. The weather vane signifies this and was paid for by her uncle, Wykeham Clifton, uncle of the late Duchess.

Apart from the reordering of the sanctuary in line with the liturgical changes brought about by Vatican II, the various alterations or extensions to the church have been to accommodate the increased congregation and have been in line with the original design. The church we have today still reflects the hopes and aims of 1890.