History of All Saints Parish Church – courtesy of local historian and parishioner, John Hawkins

In the late nineteenth century St Ives comprised a few cottages and one big house, with some nearby farms at Woolsbridge, Ashley and St Leonards –  a population of around 50. The nearest church was in Ringwood, with the mother church  9 miles away at Christchurch Priory. Occasionally a service would be held locally in a field by a visiting priest and people would bring their own chairs!

By 1905 as numbers grew some residents pressed the Diocese for their own church;  however it was not until 1911 that approval for this was granted. Land and a design were donated, fund raising began, and locals built their Mission Church of All Saints in 1912. Everything was run by volunteers and a lay reader. The building costs of £500 were paid by 1913, and remaining loans by 1917.

Local requests for independence were delayed by problems providing the stipend for a resident priest. A temporary solution was eventually found in 1927, when the Conventional District of St Ives and St Leonards was created covering parts of both Ringwood and Christchurch Parishes. Curates-in-charge at Christchurch assisted and maintained continuity. Meanwhile, in 1932 the civil parish of St Leonards and St Ives was formed, and  by a large majority at their first council meeting decided not to change their name to that of the  church.

A parsonage was provided in 1937, and eventually in 1962 a wooden church hall was built.

By the 1960’s both Church and parsonage were in need of repair, and a nearby expansion to the population of around 2000 was proposed. In 1967 fundraising began but local authority planners vetoed a proposal to rebuild on the site of the parsonage. However, by now the increase to the local population merited true independence and the ecclesiastical Parish of St Leonards & St Ives was created two years later, in 1969.

The hall was prepared for services, the old church was demolished and the new All Saints Parish Church was built in 1972. A grant was awarded by the Diocese which covered two thirds of the cost, although for reasons of economy it was decided to have a flat roof to the church. This proved problematic over time , so as a result of more fundraising it was replaced by a gabled roof in 1982, and all loans and debts were cleared by 1985.

Local fundraising and generosity did not end there!  In 1993, largely through the generosity of a local churchgoer , the rapidly deteriorating old wooden hall was finally replaced at a cost of nearly £200,000 by a modern new Church Centre , officially opened by the Rt Revd John Perry, Bishop of Southampton, on September 11th 1994 and which has played a key role in broadening the activity base of the Church and its involvement in the local community.