[pensionipper]

Fromwath : 'Sam' Cleary would have known; just a saying like "pigs might fly" or "you can't educate pork", etc. etc. True about 'a high proportion of those who went there', I just find it hard to believe that could change so drastically, but then again I wasn't there for the good bit. Good luck!

[Ridgewalk]

Originally Posted by jmccmc

Indeed, it is sad that many people have made unfounded allegations against the deceased Brothers who are now unable to defend their integrity and good name. These men were strict because they realized that discipline is vital to a good education, but they were not unfair. Many purported ex-students have made allegations of injustice. In my humble opinion, the only injustice relates to the unfair allegations now being made. This is very sad. My memories of De La Salle and those of my friends are all very good and positive!

I also take exception to some of your remarks. If you weren't there at that time how would you know ? I can tell you there are far worse allegations which could be made that haven't been made on here and I don't intend to start now, I'll leave that to your imagination.

[Ridgewalk]

Originally Posted by paulus

This topic is a fascinating find for me and a great insight into De La Salle as someone who didn't go there. I was brought up on Low Edges estate from 1954 and can well remember as kids we would often wander down Beauchief to play or go fishing at the abbey ponds. I well remember being told by other kids not to go to the De La Salle pond as the "rich kids" there would "beat you up and throw you in the pond" lol , however I did one day go with a friend and was stood by the pond looking at the fish when half a dozen or so much older boys appeared a few hundred yards away and started shouting and running towards us , I can tell you we legged it pretty quick. I eventually passed my 11+ and went to Rowlinson where discipline was pretty strict but nothing like what I see described here. I just wonder what you who were at De La Salle were told (if anything) about "us lot" from the council estate because as a kid it seemed a world away from us. I am now 58 , have run several businesses of my own and semi-retired looking after my wife but still have really good memories of growing up around that area.

Hi Paulus.

I came from a working class council estate background, my father was a coal miner. There were a lot of children from well to do backgrounds who attended the school and I'd presume that they felt more comfortable with the dominant middle class ethos than I was.

I left in 1970 and have nothing but bad memories of the place. It's only in recent years that I've started to reflect on the whole experience, I blocked it out for 40 years. This thread is quite cathartic in many respects.

[820vitesse]

Remember the school trip to Italy.Was one of the best experiences of my life.Spike and Benjy Wall drove the school coach all around Europe

[POLSKI]

Originally Posted by Tonyt

Seems a bit strange to me as the school was in Pitsmoor well away from Beauchief. As to they're being rich kids this is a bit odd as most had come from the 11+ system, two school mates had window cleaner fathers, my own could not afford to get my shoes repaired so I had to borrow a pair.
I'm glad to hear things have worked out for you, many of us only started to be conscience when we left school.

The school itself was at Scott Road, Pitsmoor. The PE afternoons were at Beauchief Hall. There were also some of the 1st and 2nd year pupils taught at Beauchief before moving on to Scott Road in their 3rd year.

There was a massive mix of kids at DLS, from differing backgrounds etc. The only common denominator being we were all Catholic.
From personal experience the Brothers and teachers were strict,and these days, yes some would be hauled up before the Courts for the sort of punishments given out BUT in those days we ALL knew the consequences of offending so the choice was down to the individual as to wether or not he wanted to fall foul of the system.
"Strapper" Grant once gave me a bloody good walloping with his leather strap (hence his nickname) but by the same token when you're caught red-handed chasing someone in his Chemistry class with the idea of chucking Sulphuric acid down his back then I look back and agree the punishment was justified.
By the way if it had not been for Mr Grants firmness and fairness, I would not have acheived a Grade 1 in Chemistry.
Good old days...but hard.
I was there between '73 and '77.

[Shaun Walton]

...Our contemporary, Stephen Hawking, wrote:
".....English education at that time was very hierarchical. Not only were schools divided into academic and non-academic, but the academic schools were further divided into A,B, and C streams. This worked well for those in the A stream, but not so well for those in the B stream, and badly for those in the C stream.............everyone who came below twentieth in the class was put down........In my first two terms....I came tweny-fourth and twenty-third, but in my third term I came eighteenth. So I just escaped........."

Now, being late in the alphabet, I was placed in 1C when we arrived as "fags" ( how about that for a Dickensian epithet ).... By some miracle, I made the cut to 2B (and was the last in my year to get long trousers ).

I travelled on the 'bus from Wombwell with Jim in the A stream and Tony in the C stream.
Jim was brilliant, and ended up in the "remove" year, Upper Fourth.
I was hopeless and consistantly failed many subjects at year-end, scraping through the remainder.
Tony was concientious, a hard worker, and wanted to do well.
So............how was it that I was never put down to C, and Tony, much more deserving, was never given a chance at B...?

I absolutely HATED my time at Scott Rd. All of the negative posts in this forum ring true with me, so I need not belabour that aspect.

BTW, I believe the Principal's given name was spelled "Wilfr.I.d" as opposed to Wilfred.
Was there a "Wilfred" who came later in the '60s, or are people confusing the dates? ( "andycott", 1st post on P.5 )
Wilfrid was Head during my years '56-'60.

I did eventually become reasonably well-educated, but this was due to my own efforts after leaving that hell-hole.

Wouldn't you think that a pupil struggling as I was ( and, no doubt, others ) would have been given help to overcome his difficulties, and encouraged to do as well as his ability allowed?

[Ridgewalk]

Agree with everything you say there Shaun. I was talking to an ex De la Salle pupil t'other day, I've known him years but only just found out that he went to the "College". He confirmed all my perceptions of the place, he's a good few years younger than me but his recollections are very similar, he absolutely hated the place, the institution, the Brothers and the negative impact its had on his life.

[Shaun Walton]

...Thanx, Ridgewalk....'nuff said, I think, on the negatve side.

Any road, you were there a decade after me, I would love to hear from anyone who was there in my time...'56-'60. The names escape me, except for a few.
Does "Stonehouse" ring a bell?
Or Woodhouse?
Grayson?
Paddy Moran?
Tony Barber?
Tony Spencer?
Jim Haines?
Pete Rich (Barnsley)?
There was a lad from Chesterfield, I remember, and one further pupil on my 'bus from Wombwell. This boy disappeared before second-form, and there was only the three of us for the duration....Can't for the life of me remember his name....used to slide into the 'bus-stop on his hob-nail boots.
Wonder what happened to him?

My email is jillnshaun@telus.net

[cosecphil]

Hi there.
Just typed for about 20 mins and tried to post but it said I wasn't connected so just trying this to test it.

[Shaun Walton]

Originally Posted by cosecphil

Hi there.
Just typed for about 20 mins and tried to post but it said I wasn't connected so just trying this to test it.

...Most unfortunate...
Please try again, Phil, your contribution appreciated

[cosecphil]

Sod it. Have tried to post twice now and all my typing just disappears.

[Shaun Walton]

Originally Posted by cosecphil

Sod it. Have tried to post twice now and all my typing just disappears.

...but your comments are fine....
carry on along those lines ??

[cosecphil]

Going to do it in small bits.
Went to DLS on 1961 along with 3 other Rotherham lads Tim Norburn, Peter Thompson and Paddy Boyle - no rich parents among us.

[cosecphil]

Seems to be working.
I only spent 2 years there before going to join the De La Salle Brothers at the boarding school St. Cassian's Juniorate in Berkshire. I was there 3 years (very enjoyable) and took the habit and vows but left after a couple of months.
I returned to dls sheffield and joined the sixth form late in Jan 1967 and struggled to understand anything about maths (calculus) organic chemistry or physics )calculus again). Left in the summer rather than re-take the whole year and started in a junior work role.
Would love to hear from old rotherham lads and also my good friend Stephen Bartram/Bartlett?? memory gone, who was the only boy following the horrible BCG injections that turned out to actually have TB. He went of for treatment and I never saw him again. Also, Alan Baines, James Conkah, Tom Boulding (or Stephen?) or anyone brave enough to admit knowing me.

[cosecphil]

Just wanted to say that i didn;t have the awful experiences many seem to have had, but then again I was a bit of a coward so didn;t step out of line too often.
I did manage to get g=caned by bro (I thought is was) Cyrenus because I tripped in the queue from playground to morning lessons thus proving I was unruly and although I only got one across the top of the buttocks it hurt like hell. I got strapped quite often and also the dreaded ruler dropped across the back of the hand (very painful).
The posts jogged my memory of Mr McCleary but all other names remain foggy.
I never came across any brother that genuinely abused any pupil either in Sheffield or in Berkshire but that doesn;t mean that others didn;t have awful treatment, particularly in earlier years, so not all of the brothers were bad and many were genuinely intent on giving good teaching and direction.
Thanks to everyone for making their views and memories available for us to read and please keep it going.
Best wishes to all and hope these posts aren;t too long or irrelevant.

[Ridgewalk]

Hi Cosecphil interesting staff. Incidentally I didn't have the "awful experience" 'cos I "stepped out of line" in fact judging by your accounts compared to you I was a goody two shoes and can't recollect ever being hit. I did see lots of, to me, gratuitous violence in the form of Alphius's "biffer" lots of cane being handed out and pupils slapped hard across the face. I guess it was no different to any other institution in that respect. It was just the awfuness of the experience from start to finish which wasn't helped in my case by being away from home between 7am and 5-45Pm every day and then having a cartload of homework.
I ticked all the boxes as a good Catholic boy, mass, sacraments, holidays of obligation, knew the mass off by heart in Latin so in that respect I should have fitted-in like a hand in a glove. Honestly and truthfully don't have one good memory of my 5 years there.

I'm actually, believe it or not, quite a positive person and not given to moaning about my lot in life and pretty philosophical about what comes my way. Perhaps in a perverse way DLS conditioned me to be resilient so some good did come out of it.

Incidentally has anybody followed the case last week of former DLS students taking many of the Brothers to court for abuse. Somewhere in East Yorkshire I think. I personally wouldn't go that far and to a great extent put the years 11-16 in a closed box in my mind. That said in recent years this thread has played a bit of a cathartic role for me and hearing accounts from others is useful

[Veritas]

Originally Posted by cosecphil

Seems to be working.
I only spent 2 years there before going to join the De La Salle Brothers at the boarding school St. Cassian's Juniorate in Berkshire. I was there 3 years (very enjoyable) and took the habit and vows but left after a couple of months.
I returned to dls sheffield and joined the sixth form late in Jan 1967 and struggled to understand anything about maths (calculus) organic chemistry or physics )calculus again). Left in the summer rather than re-take the whole year and started in a junior work role.
Would love to hear from old rotherham lads and also my good friend Stephen Bartram/Bartlett?? memory gone, who was the only boy following the horrible BCG injections that turned out to actually have TB. He went of for treatment and I never saw him again. Also, Alan Baines, James Conkah, Tom Boulding (or Stephen?) or anyone brave enough to admit knowing me.

If it is the Tom Boulding that my Aunt taught at St Josephs Walkley he liked it that much he returned to teach English at De La Salle ( I was in his first class) and is now the Landlord at Fagins on Broad Lane

[Shaun Walton]

....Apropos of nothing:

Scott Rd. ran (still runs?) uphill to the east from Barnsley Rd., past the College at the top, then down to the right. Just down this slope, there was, in the '50s, a grotty public toilet.
In one of the stalls was this memorable graffito:

"If all the girls lived over the sea,
What a good swimmer WILF would be"

I used to giggle over that, especially if I remenbered it during assembly.

[cosecphil]

Originally Posted by Veritas

If it is the Tom Boulding that my Aunt taught at St Josephs Walkley he liked it that much he returned to teach English at De La Salle ( I was in his first class) and is now the Landlord at Fagins on Broad Lane

Thanks Veritas. I saw a very early post about Fagan's and I guessed that might have been the same Tom.

I will be in Sheffield in early December for the first time in 30 years so I might even get a chance to find the pub and call in.

[schoolrdgal]

Originally Posted by Veritas

If it is the Tom Boulding that my Aunt taught at St Josephs Walkley he liked it that much he returned to teach English at De La Salle ( I was in his first class) and is now the Landlord at Fagins on Broad Lane

Hi Veritas would be interested to know who was your aunt ? Sorry to use the De La Salle thread, although my brother went there and hated every minute!