De La Salle College

[Veritas2 10]

Well I enjoyed the joke Ikepot, it made me laugh out loud. Pity I cannot think of one at the moment.

I have however been thinking of my time at DLS recently and I realise I didn't like Sheffield. I have three reasons and I hope someone will make comments, particularly about my third reason.

I came from a flat area the other side of Doncaster and did not like the hills in Sheffield.

These probably seemed enormous to an 11 year old who wasn't used to them.

The second reason was the journey to school through Brightside. I hated the smell of the place.

The third reason was the taste of the water at school. It not only tasted awful it had a yellow hue. I never discussed this with anyone at the time but I am curious to know if anyone else had a problem with it. Perhaps it was just a different taste to the water I was used to drinking at home or there really was a problem.

[Yellowrose 10]

I must admit it sounds like a different school to the one I went to and that the brothers must have mellowed by the time I arrived in 1971 and left in 1974.

 

Brother Wilfred was still at the helm and although could be fearsome when needed to be I found him to be usually fair minded.

 

Brother Anthony ( Brother Spike) - Maths - A very nice guy.

 

Brother Maximus -Biology I think - No problem

 

Brother Serenus- l don't recall being in any of his classes so can't comment.

 

Brother Peter - French - Another good guy left the order I believe and was rumoured to be last seen in a soft top sports car with an attractive blonde

My husband attended De La Salle 1972-1978, the great Brother Maximus taught him history

[peterern 10]

Veritas - brought back memories though I was there after you. Mr Wilson was sadistic. Capt Wall a pervert. MacSweeney liked the drink and so did Tom Foley though he did have problems with diabetes. Still no excuse for his behaviour. Serenus was tiny but loved to wield his big cane. He was crazy. So was Bro Ambrose. Bro Cyril was ginger who went on to be Head at Liverpool. He could be nice but having witnessed his beatings he became sadistic and excited. Looking back now - no excuses. They got away with murder, though not all the teachers were like this. I still bear a grudge ( and some disturbing dreams) after all these years at having had to experience all this at the tender age of 11 years onwards Wilfred and Victor died within a few weeks of each other in the Btothers retirement home in Oxford.

[Bushbaby 11]

Veritas - brought back memories though I was there after you. Mr Wilson was sadistic. Capt Wall a pervert. MacSweeney liked the drink and so did Tom Foley though he did have problems with diabetes. Still no excuse for his behaviour. Serenus was tiny but loved to wield his big cane. He was crazy. So was Bro Ambrose. Bro Cyril was ginger who went on to be Head at Liverpool. He could be nice but having witnessed his beatings he became sadistic and excited. Looking back now - no excuses. They got away with murder, though not all the teachers were like this. I still bear a grudge ( and some disturbing dreams) after all these years at having had to experience all this at the tender age of 11 years onwards Wilfred and Victor died within a few weeks of each other in the Btothers retirement home in Oxford.

 

....And don't get me started about Bro Kevin and that Ginger haired french git - Andre. Put me in a room with 'en now, that's all I ask

[elvisbrother 10]

wow this is interesting

[Ridgewalk 96]

I was there between 1965-70. Horrible place. Captain Wall once threw a shoe at me as I struggled to get over a high wooden box in the gym, caught me in the mouth and cut my lip open. Foley once danced, yes danced, around the playground either drunk or hyperglycaemic pointing at random pupils for throwing snowballs so that Bro Victor could thrash them with a cane. Alphieus loved to use that leather bat to punish pupils, as for Bro Gabriel, well less said the better. I tried to complain to my mother but was given short shrift as De La Salle was run "god fearing men"

[RickyO 10]

I attended DLS from 1956 to 1961 and still have many memories of the school.

Wilfred was the headmaster when I started but I think he was moved on after about four years and another Brother became head.

MacSweeny was our English teacher. I don't remember learning much in English. He seemed to come in and chat to us for 35 minutes about any subject we chose to raise and that lasted to the end of the lesson.

Bro. Alphonsus taught RE and his lessons were always interesting.

We had a science teacher called Mr. Whaley who used to come to school on his scooter. One morning, probably in 1957, I arrived at school and saw Wilf crying as he went into his office. We later learnt that Mr Whaley had been killed in a RTA on the way to school that morning. Our year was chosen to sing at his requiem the following week. I recall Mr. Whaley as a good man.

I wasn't keen on our Physics teacher Mr. Wilson. Perhaps one of the reasons was that he put me into detention three times in a week which meant I had to go to school on Saturday morning and that was a forty mile round trip for me.

Mr Gent taught chemistry, I think he was an old boy of the school.

Mr. Foley taught maths. One day he came into class sat down at the front and said 'number 1'. A few minutes later he said 'number 2'. This went on until the end of the lesson and he continued to sit there. One of the boys went out and brought Capt. Wall the PE master into the class who cleared us all out. It turned out Mr. Foley was diabetic and must have failed to take his medication that day.

Brother Syrenus taught history. He was a snuff taker. He did make the subject interesting and made sure his pupils knew all the facts. I bet most of us passed our GCE's in that subject.

JOS taught geography, the less said about that the better.

We had a pupil in the class called Jimmy Ryan. Wilf came in to give him the stick for some reason I cannot recall but after a couple of strokes Jimmy said

'I'll 'ave n'more o' that'. MacSweeny never let Jimmy forget the incident and some time later Jimmy left the school.

There was a Brother with ginger hair whose name escapes me at the moment,

Cyril I think. He used to prowl the playground every day. He never taught me but I think his subject was geography. He caught me smoking and gave me the choice of being reported to Wilf or taking punishment from him. I chose the latter. He kept me waiting for weeks or maybe months. In the end I went and asked him if we could get it over with. Six of the best. That was painful.

I was a poor student and I blame that on a bad home life, too much travelling to school and a bad attitude on my part.

 

Maybe the chemistry teacher Mr. Gent was Brian Gent who was a pupil with me in the forties. He was the smartest pupil at the college or even later that I ever studied with.

[rossyrooney 12]

wow this is interesting

 

You wouldn't have thought that had you attended the place matey.

 

It was a real eye opener and rather than instilling knowledge and tolerance into the pupils they chose to wield the big stick.

 

Bad memories of a bad time,most of the staff were either sadistic or crackers.

[pattricia 574]

You wouldn't have thought that had you attended the place matey.

 

It was a real eye opener and rather than instilling knowledge and tolerance into the pupils they chose to wield the big stick.

 

Bad memories of a bad time,most of the staff were either sadistic or crackers.

 

I was just down the road mate, at The Convent High School for girls. A very unhappy time for me, I couldnt wait to leave.

[ikepot44 10]

Such a spate of new messages detailing the daily brutalities of the De La Salle Brothers at our school, back in those good old days . . . !

 

But what we went through was as nothing to what the top Brothers inflicted on other lads, through their unbelievable naivete and stupidity. Just put BBC and James Carragher into your search engine, such as `Google', and see if you can believe your eyes. Forgiveness is all very well - but think of the truly ruined lives you are reading about . . .

 

And these people, our Brothers, had a licence to supervise the teaching and development of tens of thousands of vulnerable young boys. Including yours and mine . . .

[pjkay 10]

Such a spate of new messages detailing the daily brutalities of the De La Salle Brothers at our school, back in those good old days . . . !

 

But what we went through was as nothing to what the top Brothers inflicted on other lads, through their unbelievable naivete and stupidity. Just put BBC and James Carragher into your search engine, such as `Google', and see if you can believe your eyes. Forgiveness is all very well - but think of the truly ruined lives you are reading about . . .

 

And these people, our Brothers, had a licence to supervise the teaching and development of tens of thousands of vulnerable young boys. Including yours and mine . . .

 

Yes the Notorious De La Salle brothers...But lets not stop there..The Sisters Madalene(?) Even a movie about the cruelty and mistreatment of Children in their care..

This era has gone now thank goodness and we who came through it ,years ago have learnt some strong lessons. Never again we say..but there are still some parts of the world where there are injustices... Lets move on and enjoy the present and the future.

[hazel 11]

My brother, who started this thread, hated the De La Salle brothers all his life for their cruelty to the boys they were in charge of --including him.

 

But I found the Notre Dame nuns were strict but kind and always fair

 

hazel