GRADE 2, 1967

This picture was given to us by my lovely niece, Susan McAllister.  The year is 1967 and it is a Grade 2 Class, St Patrick's Primary School.  The teacher was Miss J Sears.  It's too bad Miss Sears isn't in the photo with the class. Don't they all look so sweet?

Grade 2, 1967

ROW 1, L-R
Susan Power, Jacinta Mackey, Josephine Dalton, Karen Baird, Marie O'Brien, Joan?, Terri Dicks, Janet Pink, Judy McCarthy, Louise Kavanaugh, Cathy Mackey, Margo Walsh
ROW 2, L-R
Lynn Martin, ?, Paulette ?, Joan Tracey, Susan Emberley, Rachel Reid, Sandra Doyle, Kathy Stone, Darlene Horwood, Jeanette Power, Tina O'Brien, Beverley O'Keefe
ROW 3, L-R
Janet Power, ?, Maureen O'Brien, Anita Hall, Marylou Redmond, Annette Power, Gertrude Bruce, Trudy Collins, Sylvia Broderick, Susan McAllister, Colleen ?, ?

If you are on this picture and you can add a name or two, I would be happy to hear from you.

****Thanks to Jeanette Power Woodman and Rhonda Coleman, we have two more  names to add.  Jeanette Power is the little cutie sitting third right in the middle row.  Rhonda informed us that Sylvia Broderick is fourth right in the back row.  Sadly, Sylvia passed away on 17 July 2018.  Thank you Jeanette and Rhonda for your input.

I have now added more names. Susan has sent us most of the names and she said "please feel free to correct her" if her memory has deceived  her on any.

Thanks Susan.  This is a beautiful picture and I am delighted to post it here.

If anyone else has a picture or a memory that you would like to share, please send it along to us at mcallistersmith@gmail.com and I will gladly post it for your schoolmates to enjoy. 

SHIRLEY HIPDITCH ELLZEY

It gives me a lot of pleasure to post this article by Barbara Sweet of the Telegram.  It tells a great story of a loving and devoted family, of a St Patrick's Girl who at the age of thirteen went to Belvedere Orphanage then, at 17 moved to the U S A.  I think this story will inspire and touch you.

"U.S. family returns mother’s ashes to St. John’s

‘She lived outside the norm and was a rule breaker’

Shirley Hipditch Ellzey never made it back to St. John’s and the province she left behind to escape a hard early life, but this month her American family made the journey for her.

Daughter Jeannine Cordero and husband David Kolin

The day she died, Hipditch Ellzey expressed a wish to be returned to St. John’s, said her daughter Jeannine Cordero of Chicago, Ill.

They scattered her ashes at sea close to St. John’s harbour.

The journey had her children and two of her grandchildren not only tracing Ellzey’s girlhood footsteps and family history but meeting people face to face with whom they’d bonded with by distance, in part due to a Telegram story on Ellzey’s passing in January 2017.

George Ellzey

“We tried to get her back here at one point in time but there were a lot of ghosts here,” said Cordero, the eldest of her three children.

“In the end, she was very curious about what happened to a lot of people but she had experienced a lot of hard times here.”

Despite her hard times, she remained in love with her former home and got to see it by computer through a Google Streetview Cordero showed her.

Some of the people the family connected with turned up at a gathering Sunday at YellowBelly Brewery in St. John’s.

“We’re kind of late meeting many relatives. We have found people who remembered mom…. through them we got a feel for what it was like back then.,” Cordero said.

Patsy McCormack of Witless Bay, related to Hipditch Ellzey through marriage, hosted the family at a Jigg’s dinner in Witless Bay last week. They got a walking tour of the old west end of St. John’s — where Hipditch Ellzey spent her early childhood around Victoria Park — from Marina Aita.

Sunday night, Aita and Doreen Heffernan recalled Hipditch Ellzey as a quiet girl, with beautiful, auburn hair. The kids of all ages from the neighbourhood would walk to school, branching off to their schools.

Friends, Reuben Warren, Doreen Heffernan and Marina Aita

After Hipditch Ellzey went in Belvedere orphanage, they lost touch with her until they read about her life and passing and connected with Cordero. They came from a generation without email, Facebook or ways to instantly connect with friends who moved away. 

Aita noted many old friends have since passed, or are in long-term care homes.

Hipditch Ellzey had left St. John’s for the U.S. in 1953 after a stint in the former Belvedere girls orphanage — her father had died in 1940 when she was five and her mother in 1949 when Ellzey was 13. By then Ellzey was already in Belvedere as her mother had tuberculosis. Two siblings by her mother’s second marriage were adopted by relatives.

In the U.S., she first became a caregiver for a family in Takoma Park, Maryland, and went on to an accomplished life.

“It’s great after so many years to see the lovely family and what a nice life she had. She really had an amazing life all that she accomplished — it was wonderful,” Heffernan said.

Reuben Warren was a child when he met a young teenage Ellzey through older friends.

“She was a very, very impressive person. It stuck with me until I read (The Telegram) article.

“I didn’t know what happened to her down through the years.”

Her son George Ellzey of Denver, Colo., and daughter Joy Pilon of Williamsport, Pa., along with Cordero and her husband David Kolin, looked into family history, visited the site of the former orphanage and got to put Hipditch Ellzey’s memories she shared with them in perspective.

Daughter, Joy Pilon

“We were chasing a lot of her stories down,” said Kolin.

“Things are familiar based on the stuff Shirley would talk about. They were coming to life.”

“It’s nice — maybe there are some regrets of never doing it when we were younger and she was still here,” Pilon said. “It’s a beautiful place. I am glad we are getting to see it.”

“This was a little bit of closure,” said George Ellzey.

“It’s certainly a fascinating place.”

Granddaughter Katherine Kolin, a student at Boston University, said the trip explains a lot of the mystery of her grandmother.

Grandchildren Katherine & Yale Kolin

The trip is mostly for mom and her siblings. I am here as moral support,” she said.  “And because I am interested in the history of the place and family history.
… I don’t think anyone was expecting the kind of response we got thanks to (the Telegram),” she said.

“I think that’s really amazing. To see my mom be determined to (return her mother’s ashes here and reach out) is really outstanding. The hospitality and generosity of the people here is unmatched compared to any other place I have been in my life. I think it is marvelous.”

Katherine Kolin said she’s learned more about her grandmother because she shared little of her early struggles directly with them, though she did tell of it to her children.

“The character of my grandmother has become rounded out in my mind. That’s important. I loved her. She was my grandmother but so much makes sense now that didn’t before,” she said.

“She lived outside the norm and was a rule breaker. She was a really fiery person. And she made a lot of really, really hard decisions in my life.”

Katherine also found St. John’s the magical place her mother described despite her early rough start.

“I would certainly love to come back,” said her brother, Yale.

Some of the people who turned up were women Cordero found through a Facebook page for former Belvedere orphanage residents.

Even though some did not know Hipditch Ellzey personally, they wanted to help the family understand what the orphanage was like.

Hipditch Ellzey, who once worked as a housekeeper for famed Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider, was 81 when she died of breast cancer.

After she left Newfoundland and Labrador at 17 for the U.S., she eventually married a Colombian-born doctor and spent some time in Mexico and her husband’s native country before divorcing and returning to the U.S. with her then young daughter, Cordero.

Hipditch Ellzey later married a serviceman and had two more children — George Ellzey and Joy Pilon. Hipditch Ellzey trained as a dental assistant and worked for a time with two prominent Maryland orthodontists who treated Washington, D.C., politicians.

She loved working for the Snider family in Pennsylvania and travelled frequently with them.

barbara.sweet@thetelegram.com

WHAT WAS AMISS?

I am happy to say that this post (click here) had a grand response on our school facebook page.  As promised, I will now reveal the little inaccuracies in the otherwise beautiful sketch by the late Bill Guihan.

The sketch of St Patrick’s Church itself is actually faultless.  It was completely accurate when it was drawn in the 1980s.  The problems arose when the artist inserted the horse and buggy and the old fashioned people walking down the church yard.  Those touches indicated a much earlier time.  Someone pointed out that the horse and buggy were driving on the wrong side of the street.  That was a good observation but, as someone else said, we drove on the left until 1947 so that wasn’t the problem.  Other suggestions were that St Patrick’s statue wasn’t enclosed. St Patrick’s statue wasn’t there at that time so that isn’t it either.  Anyway, I have enjoyed all your remarks on this and I am really grateful to you for making the effort and having a go.  I hope you have enjoyed it too.  But what makes the church and the horse and buggy, etc, so incompatible?  Let’s have a look.

Bill Guihan's beautiful drawing of St Patrick's Church

Well first of all, that side door pictured at the very left of the church was not there until the 1960s.  (Not too many horses trotting up Patrick St then.) That was installed during the restorations carried out by Msgr Murphy to make it easier for the elderly because it had fewer steps than the main door.  A couple of you picked up on the side door and someone else came very close to it.  Those steps at the main door are an epic climb for anyone!  

The railings at the right side of the picture are a later addition so couldn’t have been seen by the folks who travelled by horse drawn carriages.

I think that the statue referred to by one of you is the one on the bank at the side of the church.  If it is, that is the statue of Our Lady and that too is a much later addition; perhaps 1980s.  St Patrick is in his glass box at the side of the church now but he wasn’t there when Bill Guihan gave us this excellent sketch of our beloved St Patrick’s Church.

Bill Guihan was a very talented artist and I really love this picture of St Patrick’s.  However, a little part of me wishes that he had drawn what he saw and left it at that.

Again, thanks everyone for taking part in this little adventure. You St Patrick’s people are absolutely wonderful! 

ST PATRICK'S CHURCH

How many of you have seen this picture before?  I think it is a great picture and I love it. It is from a book which was given to me more than twenty years ago by one of my nieces.  Perhaps you have see this book or even own a copy of it. The book, by Bill Guihan, (1917-1992) is called “Sketches of the Old City”.  It is a fascinating documentation of some of the most historic architecture around St John’s.  An interesting and entertaining book, it will make you look with fresh eyes at our lovely old city of St John’s.

 

St Patrick's Church, by Bill Guihan

As I have said, I love this picture but I see a little inaccuracy in it.  I won’t tell you what it is but if you spot it, please leave me a comment and share what you think is amiss.  In a couple of days I will let you know what it is. 

SAFETY PATROL MONITORS

I am indebted to Dora Reid for this post.

In the 1980s, Dora was one of the Safety Patrol Monitors who regularly guided pupils over the Cross Walk on their way to and from school. Dora and fellow Monitor, Nicole Molloy, were selected to represent St Patrick's at a Cross Walk Safety Conference in Ottawa. At that time, Dora was in Grade 6 and her teacher was Mrs Warren. We are delighted to share Dora's newspaper clipping here.  

Dora Reid and Nicole Molloy

I have cropped the picture in the hope you will be better able to read the newspaper report.  

What the newspaper said!

I thought you would like to get a closer look at Dora and Nicole too.

The chosen delegates

No doubt, Some of you will know Dora and Nicole and will remember this occasion.  I expect you will probably remember being secretly envious too.

Thanks very much, Dora.  If you have anything else you would like to share, we would be more than pleased to hear about it.

50th ANNIVERSARY REUNION

Looking at this group of lovely ladies, who would ever think that 50 years have slipped by? Well, we have it on good authority that they really have!  In true St Patrick's Convent fashion, the girls still keep in touch and cherish the friendships that they made in those carefree school days.  

50th ANNIVERSARY REUNION

Christine Mary Butler, who sent us the photo, told us that they had their 50th Anniversary gathering of their Grade 3 Class (1967-68) on Sunday, 10 June 2018.  They had an "awesome time"  and are eagerly anticipating their next meeting in 2019.

Well done ladies and thank you Christine.  It is always so good to hear from you and to keep up to date with your group's activities.

REST IN PEACE MONSIGNOR DOODY

Yesterday, St Patrick's Church was packed as family, friends and former parishioners gathered to bid a fond farewell to a respected and much loved priest, Monsignor James Doody.  Father Doody was Pastor of St Patrick's Parish for 24 years and he endeared himself to all.  He was a man of kindness, compassion and generosity.  We are all very sad that he has left us but we will revere his memory.  Truly he was an exemplary priest who didn't just preach the Gospel.  He lived it!  

Thank you Father Doody.  Rest now in peace with the Lord for whom you lived your life.

Monsignor James J Doody

Below is Msgr Doody's obituary as it appeared on Caul's site.

"Monsignor James Doody

December 01, 1925 - July 03, 2018

Monsignor James Doody, P.P., P.H.

“He threw many of us a life line when we needed it”

December 1, 1925 – July 3, 2018

As a child, Monsignor Jim Doody the son of Casimer Doody and Sarah Byrne of Mosquito, Colinet Island, S.M.B, helped his father in the fishery, and as a teenager he had his own fishing boat.  For the last sixty-five years, he has been what the scriptures describes as a “fisher of people.”  Monsignor Jim Doody, age 92 years, set sail from this place on July 3, 2018, and thus he has secured his berth in the final port of call.

James Joseph Doody was born on December 1, 1925.  He was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of St. John’s on June 21, 1953.  As a ‘fisher of people’ he held a number of Pastoral and Administrative Appointments: St. Joseph’s Parish, St. John’s; Holy Apostles Parish, Renews; St. Kyran’s, Bar Haven, Oderin, and Merasheen Parishes;  Oderin Parish; Monsefu, Peru Parish;  Sacred Heart Parish, St. Mary’s; Sacred Heart Parish, Placentia; Ministry to Priest’s Program, St. Joseph’s Parish, St. John’s; and his final and longest serving ministry was St. Patrick’s Parish, St. John’s and St. John Bosco Parish, Shea Height’s (1986-2010).

In December 1994, Pope John Paul II designated him as a Prelate of Honor (PH) with the lifetime title of Monsignor. It is recognition by the Vatican and Pope of special service rendered to the Church. He retired from active ministry in June 2010, taking up residence at St. Patrick’s Mercy Home in 2012.

He leaves to mourn: Archbishop Martin Currie, Brother Priests, Religious Sisters and Christian Brothers, his sister Etta Conway residing in Corner Brook, nieces and nephews, his special friend and caregiver Brenda King and family, the Staff, Sisters and Volunteers at St. Patrick’s Mercy Home and all who cared so well for him.

Visitation at St. Patrick’s Mercy Home Chapel on Wednesday, July 4th, 3-5 pm. 

Caul's Funeral Home, LeMarchant Road, Wednesday, July 4th, 7-9 pm and Thursday, July 5th, 10 am - 5 pm.

St. Patrick’s Church, Patrick Street, Thursday, July 5th, 6 pm - 9 pm.; with Vigil Service at 7:30 pm. 

Mass of Christian Burial Friday, July 6th at 11 am St. Patrick’s Church.

Internment to follow in the priests’ plot at Belvedere Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the building fund in your home parish.

His boat of life was filled to the brim with family and friends. He took many of us in when our boats capsized, and he threw many of us a life line when we needed it. In life, he knew at times what it was like to be adrift but always found his way back to the harbour where he laid anchor with us and we are all so very grateful."                               

AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE PAST

These pictures were posted quite awhile ago by Maureen Sullivan and Mike Power on our facebook page. Because they are such interesting photos, I think they deserve a wider audience.  Maybe, and it is a very big maybe, someone out there can give us a name or two.

Maureen tells us that this picture is of the Holy Cross First Communion Class of 1928.  How awesome is that!

Holy Cross First Communion Class, 1928

Mike's picture is of a group of unnamed St Patrick's Girls.  Mike speculates that it was taken sometime in the 1940s and I think he might be right.  I think the month is either May or June because one of the girls has a ribbon and medal pinned to her uniform.

A group of St Patrick's Girls.  Who are they?
Where was the photo taken?

I would like to thank both Maureen and Mike for sharing these two amazing photos with us.  They are really special. If you come across any other photos that you would like to share, either St Patrick's or Holy Cross, we would be more than happy to post them.  You can send them to us at mcallistesmith@gmail.com.   

KIWANIS MUSIC FESTIVAL, 1956

I think we have a real treasure of a photo here today and it is all thanks to Cathy Simms Healy and Betty Simms.  Cathy is the owner of the prized photo and she passed it on to Betty who then passed it on to us.  Cathy has also given us names, year and event!

The year was 1956 and the event was the prestigious Kiwanis Music Festival.  The girls are all decked out in their special attire, which was probably commissioned for the occasion. This St Patrick’s Convent School choir was under the direction of Sr M Carmelita Meaney PBVM.

The girls are,

Back, L-R:  Norah Brazil, Joan Galway, Patricia Power, Frances Jackman, Patricia Farrel, Marge McGrath, Eleanor O’Reilly, Catherine Whalen, Marina Sorenson, Betty Wilson, Eileen O’Brien, Joanne Ashley

Row 3:  Alice Tobin, Barb Morrissey, ?, Patricia Walsh, Barbara Stone, ?, Patricia Browne, Irene Grant, Joan Alyward, Sheila Squires, Margie Sorenson, Bernice Corbett

Row 2:  Brenda Whalen, Jessie Murphy, Shirley Mahoney, Carol Bennett, Bernice Everard, Patricia Reardon, Frances Hennessey, Madonna O’Neill, Judy Whiffen, Roseann Bulger, Lucy O’Keefe, Rosalie Follett, Ada Mercer

Row 1:  Josephine Mahoney, Catherine Simms, Patricia Moore, Judy Murphy, Catherine Martin, Peggy O’Toole, Barbara Walsh, Noreen Carter, Patricia O’Leary

A very big Thank You to Cathy for sharing this wonderful memory with us.  Thanks also to my dear friend Betty for passing it on to us.  Thank you both for your continued support for this blog.  

'THREE POINTS CENTER'

This post takes us all the way to St George, Utah, where we find some wonderful work being done.  There is a very strong link to Newfoundland and to St Patrick’s and I am grateful to Teri Healey Evans for sharing this with us. Teri and her sisters are all graduates of St Patrick’s Convent Schools and Teri brings us news of one of the sisters, Betty.  

Many of us shared our school days with Betty and remember her with affection.  Betty Healey Brown now lives in North Carolina.  This is a story of Betty and her two amazing, community spirited sons, Norm and Glenn Thibault.  The boys were born in Newfoundland, Baptised at St Patrick’s and, after moving to the States, spent most of their summers with their Healey family in Newfoundland.  Teri says that if you ask Norm and Glenn where they are from they will proudly tell you “Newfoundland”. 

Both boys put themselves through college and Glenn became a very successful businessman and Norm a dedicated Family and Adolescent Therapist.  Norm had a great desire to help adolescents who have been adopted and who have been coping with issues of rejection, drugs, alcohol abuse and myriad other problems.   With the help of his brother Glenn’s financial backing, Norm’s dream became a reality.

September 2017 saw the grand opening of their treatment centre for such young people.  The facility is named ‘Three Points Center,’  and is located at St George, Utah.  Glenn, who lives in Colorado, was there for the opening. The boys’ very proud mother, Betty, joined them and helped cut the ribbon. At present the facility is operating at full capacity with children from across the USA and elsewhere.  Reports of the Center’s good work and excellent results are spreading far and wide. Recently, ‘Three Points Center’ was featured in a documentary on a French T V Station which had flown a crew over to film at the Ranch. 

I am certain that, not only Betty, but the entire Healey family is bursting with pride at the work these two dedicated young men are doing and the good they are bringing about.  I don’t think it would be too presumptuous if we, as fellow Newfoundlanders, schoolmates, and friends of the Healey family feel a little of that pride too.

 

Betty Healey Brown with her two sons, Glenn and Norm, at the opening of 'Three Point Center'
in St George, Utah

Teri has sent us a picture of the ribbon cutting which we are delighted to post on our School Blog.  Thanks Teri for this very interesting and inspiring story.  We send greetings to Betty and wish Norm and ‘Three Points Centre’ every success.  

**** If you click on either of the 'Three Points' names above, you will be taken to its website where you can learn all about the facility and its work.

***UPDATED - MISS MORGAN'S OTHER KINDERGARTEN CLASS - 1967

Back in March I received this picture from Patricia Moores Walsh.   Isn’t it a beauty?  Patricia informed us it is Miss Morgan’s other Kindergarten Class, 1967.  She has also given us some names but we are counting on you to help us with the ones that Patricia missed.   

****I have a great reason for updating this post.  I am absolutely delighted to tell you that I have just received an email from Miss Rosemarie Morgan, the teacher in this photo.   Miss Morgan, now Mrs Weightman, tells us that it is her morning class and she has given us the names of all the little cuties in the photo. 

Miss Morgan's other Kindergarten cuties, 1967

They are, Front Row L-R:

Brenda Mallard, Violet Dalton, Theresa Kiley, Peggy Raymond, Carol Ann Lake, Tina Smith, Rosalind Murphy, Jackie Pink

Row 2:  Betty Bishop, Linda Hickey, Linda McCarthy, Darlene White, Madonna Taylor, Marie Fifield, Denise Purcell, Sheila Martin

Row 3:  Linda Hall, Maureen Holden, Donna Greening, Michelle O’Keefe, Linda Lee, Patricia Moores, Diane Carew, Susan Hayes

Patricia, I am really grateful to you for sharing this beautiful photo.  I hope some of the little ladies pictured here will be in touch to add a few more names.  Due to circumstances, it sometimes takes a little while to post things but be assured, everything eventually gets posted and we are ALWAYS thankful to the people who share their memories with us.  So please, if you have anything at all that you would like to share here with friends and former classmates, just send it along to mcallistersmith@gmail.com.

To Miss Morgan/Mrs Weightman, thank you so very much for taking the time to get in touch.  It is really great to have all the names and I am pretty certain that the ladies in the photo will be more than pleased to know that their Kindergarten teacher is still looking out for them.

OUR MUSICAL HERITAGE

Maybe you know this already but I'll tell you anyway - the Presentation Sisters were the first in Newfoundland to introduce music into their schools on a daily basis.  Since those talented Irish ladies brought music to our schools, many excellent music teachers have followed in their footsteps.  St Patrick's Convent Schools had their fair share of such teachers over the generations. Mother Francis O'Toole, Mother Gerard Walker, Sr Presentation McCarthy, Sr Edwardine Smith and Miss Eleanor Lawton are just a few of that long line of dedicated women. All have left their mark but today's post concerns just one of the many.

Sr Mary Brendan Lynch arrived at St Patrick's Convent in 1967 and her years there were memorable for her and for the choirs she directed.  In 1973, Sr Brendan was invited to take her choir to Ottawa to perform at the Canadian Music Educators' Association Convention.  Due to Sr Brendan's talent and dedication, many successes and awards came to St Patrick's.    

Miss Eleanor Lawton, Sr M Brendan, Sr M Luke and some award winning choir members.  Madonna is second girl from Sr Luke. 

As well as talented, Sr Brendan is also well loved and respected by her former 'stars'! Recently two 'stars' contacted us with news of Sr Brendan.

Sr M Brendan and Madonna Taylor-Hurley

Madonna Taylor-Hurley sent us two photos of Sr Brendan.  Madonna said: "It's so wonderful to have reconnected with this lovely lady. After so many years ago being her little pupil, I am so proud to call Sister Brendan my friend."

Cathy Taylor Coffee also sent us a picture which was taken when she and Brenda Howard Coombes enjoyed a visit with Sr Brendan.  Cathy and Brenda spent  many years as members of St Patrick's Glee Club, which was so successfully directed by Sr Brendan.

Cathy Taylor Coffee, Brenda Howard Coombes
and Sr M Brendan Lynch

Sr Mary Brendan Lynch has been the recipient of many accolades, including being inducted into the Kiwanis Music Festival Hall of Fame in 2003.  From the photos, it is obvious that Sr Brendan still holds the hearts of many of her former pupils. Perhaps  that is the best accolade of all.

BEAUTIFUL BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Rosalita Bambrick has very kindly shared this absolutely stunning picture with us.  It is St Patrick’s Convent School Graduating Class of 1957.  To make it even more wonderful, Rosalita, with a little help from Catherine Parsons Altini, has provided most of the names of the girls.  As always, if anyone out there can help fill in the couple of blanks, we would be most grateful if you would send the names to us at mcallistersmith@gmail.com.

Graduating Class of 1957

FRONT ROW: L-R

Rosalita Bambrick, ?, ?, Mary Colbert, Patricia Anne Roche, Mary Power, Sharon Horan, Mary Fagan, Carmelita Burke, Betty King, Claire Ann Connolly

ROW 2: L-R

Betty Baird, Catherine Healey, Yvonne Snow, Polly Kelly, Kathleen Ryan, Frances Cook, ?, Phyllis Silver, Catherine Parsons, Marie Northcott

BACK ROW: L -R

Rosemary Luby, Margaret Birmingham, Anna Hamlyn, Regina Galway, Anita Stamp, Kathleen Power, ?

To top it off, Rosalita also shared a photo of a reunion of the Graduating Classes of 1957/58.  The reunion was held on 15 September 2017 and, it goes without saying, “a good time was had by all”!

 

Reunion of Graduating Classes of 1957/58

Aren't reunions just great? We certainly should have more of them. A grand reunion of the whole school would be wonderful.  Of course, it would take a lot of planning and a lot of work by some very competent people. Is anyone up for it?   I hesitate to even suggest that time might be running out for some of us. That is a very sobering thought!

Thank you so much Rosalita. These are really great pictures, bringing with them some very special memories. Your contribution and support is greatly appreciated.

THE 24th MAY WEEKEND!

Here we are again, another 24th May weekend.  I would venture to bet that you all have at least one 24th story from your youth that is worth the telling. Why not send it to us at mcallistrsmith@gmail.com and share it here with your friends and former school mates?  

If you follow this link 

http://stpatricksconventschool.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/twenty-fourth-of-may-is-queens-birthday.html
you can read about a couple of 24th escapades from the past!

The 24th May weekend has long been the weekend of the great escape to the side of some fabulous pond for a spot of fishing.  However, a word to the wise - don't take Moses with you!

I wonder where this pond is

I hope the sun shines and that you have an enjoyable and safe 24th May weekend.