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In these days we were in the Diocese of Winchester and it was only on rare occasions that the congregation was able to meet its Diocesan Bishop. Such a meeting took place when the Right Reverend Theodore Woods visited the parish in May 1925. He preached at Solemn Evensong and afterwards met the faithful at a social gathering in the Parish Hall. Before leaving on the following morning he was the Celebrant at a High Mass. A Red Letter day indeed for the Parish.

1927 saw the division of the Diocese of Winchester into three — and the Dioceses of Guildford and Portsmouth duly formed. The Bishop of the Diocese now became a person to know rather than some remote figure one met once or twice in a lifetime. We were delighted when the first Bishop of Portsmouth — Dr. Neville Lovett — visited the parish in November 1928 and met parishioners, after preaching at Evensong, in the parish hall.

The Centenary of the Parish — 1930. This was celebrated from 6 July to 13 July 1930. The programme of events comprised a High Mass of Thanksgiving and Solemn Evensong at which the preacher was Fr. Carey; and the Pageant first presented in 1914 was repeated on the Wednesday Thursday and Friday of that week. The writer and producer of the Pageant was Mr. John Ray, Headmaster of St. John's School, later to be ordained. The Pageant took place, as in 1914, on the vicarage lawn. The weather was fine and all went well until the Friday evening when, during the third episode, a thunderstorm broke out. The audience, actors and all ran for cover. The storm over, everyone returned to their places and everything carried on as if it had been a natural break.

In October the parish suffered a sad loss in the death of Fr. Aldridge the assistant priest — the crucifix over the pulpit is his memorial.

September 1939 saw the beginning of the second world war and in August 1940 the first bomb dropped in the parish. The Balloon Barrage party in St. Vincent Field were all killed and extensive damage was done to houses mainly in Christchurch parish. In December 1940 a bomb fell between the church and Moreland Road and houses and shops severely damaged. The Parish Church was put out of action. The side aisle was damaged, doors to the sacristy and vestry were blown off and the roof of the aisle was parted from the main building. Fr. Philips removed the Blessed Sacrament and the church was closed. So the Mission Church of St. Lukes became the Parish Church for the ensuing years. Immediately after the bombing, action was taken to prepare St. Lukes for services for the following Sunday. A party of boys from St. Vincent together with members of the congregation removed furniture to a safe part of the church. The Vicarage and the Parish Hall also went up in smoke.

Although St. Lukes Church was old and in need of repair it was fit to be used for services, weddings and funerals and the life of the parish was able to continue — in spite of many disadvantages — cold, rain, leaks and the noise of raindrops on the tin roof! The children, together with their teachers, had been evacuated and the congregation was certainly depleted but the faithful carried on resolutely looking forward to the time when they would be able to return to the Parish Church.

During the years following — until 1951 — new life returned to the Parish. The Sunday Schools grew, a children's guild was formed and a number of the parishioners formed themsleves into a group to consider the work of evangelising in the parish. An outcome of this was the setting up of a Youth Club for the youth of the parish who did not come to church. This demanding venture came about after much thought, prayer and study with the help of Mr. Tom Williams the local Youth Officer and the Club opened in 1950. The Club flourished for about three years.

The Children's Guild, however, carried on and met weekly under the direction of Fr. Chare who amongst other things, wrote and produced two pantomimes.

Fr. Chare had St. Lukes Room fitted out with electric light — a great boon to parish activity in the place. However, during the day when a missionary play was to be performed there it poured with rain and St. Lukes Room was under one foot of water. The play was cancelled for that day but was produced at a later date.