The priest of Tynemouth, Canon Howe, used to come regularly to instruct the children in a big room in a cafe or elsewhere. Their numbers increased gradually and then sufficiently for them to arrange for a special train 'the Catholic train' to save them the long walk along the sea front to Mass.
Some provision for their future needs had been made earlier in the 90s, by the purchase of the piece of land at the corner of Roxborough Terrace and Park Avenue (A strip of it had to be given up for the widening of Park Avenue). Then in 1910-11, a plain simple church to seat 250 was built by Canon Howe, at one end of the land by means of a legacy made by a Miss Collen for that purpose - Gibson' North Shields, Architects.
It was opened on March 5th, 1911 and served at first by the priests of St. Cuthbert's, North Shields which was responsible for the Monkseaton area.
The resident priest arrived on February 2nd, 1912 in the person of the Rev. Patrick Joseph Kearney. He had been born in Ireland but brought up in Preston, Lancs. and educated at Ushaw College. After ordination he served at Felling and at St Patrick's and at St Mary's, Sunderland and was then put in charge of the Mission at Chester-le-Street. He was responsible for the building of the present stone church there in the style of the 10th Century the period during which the incorrupt body of St Cuthbert was preserved in the town.
Fortunately for himself Fr Kearney was able to rent a house in Roxburgh Terrace No 13 just opposite the little church and there he lived till 1926 when a larger house at the end of the terrace in Park Avenue No 69 was acquired to provide for the coming of an assistant priest.
He soon realised the need for a bigger church with the prospects of growth of population in the district and the need for a school sanction for the latter given and a simple building with five classrooms and two mezzanine rooms, designed by Gibson & … was erected on the remaining quarter of an acre of the land in Roxborough Terrace, and opened in Jan 1914. In preparation for a new church a piece of land 1840 yards square was acquired in 1913 stretching along Coquet Avenue of the Park Road end, opposite the Park School.
The First World War broke out in August 1914 and brought Father Kearney additional labours. The town became a military camp and training grounds, thousands of soldiers passed through it with many Catholics among them e.g. the Tyneside Irish in Kitcheners Army. A special Mass on Sundays had to be arranged for them and the Sacraments were in frequent use. The extra work brought consolations to the priest, as the men were very much in earnest and sincere, they knew what lay before them.
In 1918 after the promulgation of the new code of Canon law Father Kearney became the first official parish priest of the Catholics of Whitley.
After the war preference was given to the building of houses. Land was given for the new church in 1924 and work on it was begun in the May of the same year. · Architects Stienlet and Maxwell · Contractors Henry Kelly and Co who used to be the contractors for the big Newcastle Exhibition of 1929 · Bricks came from Holland · Style Romanesque. · Father John Coutts the assistant priest acted Clerk of the Works.
The new church was Blessed and opened April 23rd 1928 by Bishop Thorman who then sang Pontifical High Mass with the very large congregation of priests and people.
Father Kearney lived another six years to enjoy the use of the new church of which he was very proud. He wrote down as the total cost - with furnishings and the adjoining presbytery as £13,600 (1930). He died after a long illness on December 14th 1934 at the age of 70 and was buried at Ashburton Catholic Cemetery, Gosforth.
Father Kearney was succeeded in January 1935 by Father Joseph Cuthbert Scarr with as assistant Father Andrew Hannon. Their places at Corpus Christi, Gateshead and St Mary's, Newcastle were taken by Father Flynn and Smith who had helped Father Kearney during his last few years.
The population of the parish was then given as about 1460. The school with accommodation of 250 had 245 pupils. The pressure on the accommodation was found.
Due to the temporary rise in the birth rate after the war. The old church was now whilst lacking the convenience of a purpose built structure, acting very well as a parish hall, meeting all sorts of use social gatherings, concerts, youth activities etc.
The setting up of a memorial to Father Kearney was talked of not long after his death but was realised only in 1937 when a pipe crier bought from a Newcastle church which was replacing it with a higher one, was installed. Its tone and the quality of the metal of the pipes have been praised. A large painting decent from the cross was displaced by the new installation and was now set up on the nave side as part of the organ screen.
The 1939 War brought difficulties from the blackout and its dangers from the enemy. The early Masses, however were said in the dark months with the help of shaded lights and the evening services moved to the afternoon and back again according to the time of the blackout. Air raids brought damage, none ot it structures, to the church on three occasions, a landmine falling on 'Ocean View' blew out with its blast the glass of the windows on the south side, then in two successive December s strings of bombs falling diagonally in Park Road to Park View area blew out the rest, brought falling stones right through the roof and displaced many tiles. All the tiles on the nave were then removed as a precaution temporary repairs were carried out after delay, as dwelling places had preference and with the endings of the danger every thing was properly restored. Death meanwhile had taken its will amongst parishioners both civilian and service man on land and at sea and in the air.
It had been planned that the school in Roxborough Terrace should then be remodelled to meet the present day needs of the infants and juniors. The department of education vetoed the plan. At last approval was given for an entirely new school and the recent Star of the Sea School at the end of Arcot Avenue, off Seatonville Road, with accommodation for 320 children was brought into use in September 1968. The majority of the children travel to the school by special coaches. Since the opening, two mobile classrooms have been added.
Meanwhile a priest had been appointed in the person of Father Thomas Laidler of St Aloysuis, Hebburn to take care of the Catholics in what is roughly described as West Monkseaton, - the western part of the St Edwards parish and the eastern part of Backworth - in 1961 from St Edwards, the western part from Beverly Road, from Maple Avenue, Northwards by Pykerley Road to the railway, then eastwards to the old Monkseaton-Blyth railway going northwards.
There was a piece of land facing onto Earsdon Road, acquired many years before the instigation of the then priest of Backworth, with a house adjoining it recently bought at the end of Sandringham Drive. Sunday Mass was said in rented premises till after about a year a semi-permanent building was set up on the land to serve the dual purpose of churches and hall. The population nearly 1,000.
At the beginning of 1971 the part of Cullercoats which had been attached to St Edward's when the latter was started was handed back to St Oswin's, Tynemouth in preparation for the formation some time of a new parish. It was the old Cullercoats which had originally been attached to St Edwards - one of the reasons, there was a sheltered approach to St Edwards along the built Whitley Road, in contrast with the open front road to St Oswin's. Since then after the first world war the housing estates between the railway and Broadway had been built, and after the 2nd war, the Marden Estate was developed. A new church was built on this latter estate in Farringdon Road in 1970 adjoining a Primary School, St Mary's opened a few years earlier.
St Edwards ended up after the changes with about 1850 people with a church and presbytery, a primary school jointly with West Monkseaton, a parish hall and the former school building both in regular use for parish activities.