De La Salle College

[pjkay 10]

I was there in 1950/51 when Brother Leonard was headmaster.Brother Wilfred (the smiling assassin - he always smiled as he wielded the strap) was in charge of discipline, and there was Brother Camulus who was mad as a hatter and ended up in the nuthouse. At that time there were 'civilian' teachers as well: 'Sam' Cleary who taught English very well, Mr. Cordwell - maths I think- and Sid Blaydon for art. Anyone who remembers these will be sure to remember 'Jos', J. O'Sullivan who was easy to wind up, so we did almost every lesson. There was just one female teacher who was good and very popular, Miss.... the name escapes me but I did hear that she died a while back after many years service.

We had to wear a t-shirt, shorts, pumps and nothing else for football, and once it was snowing so hard that the game was abandoned and we were made to run round the pitch to make up the time. Another time when 'games' was cancelled we were all issued with a pair of scissors each and made to cut the grass! The strap was a lot worse than the cane, and it all makes you wonder what today's cotton wool kids would make of it today. Happiest days of your life? Who knows.

 

Yes Sam Cleary.Gentleman he was . Read us King Solomons Mines. I never stopped reading since. Only good thing i remember PK Cape Town

[pjkay 10]

good old Sam Cleary..Long gone I am afraid

[fortysixer 10]

I came across this site by chance, having almost forgotten my time at De La Salle. I went there in 1946 - a group of us travelling daily by train from Chesterfield and always arriving (thankfully) too late for morning assembly! From what I can gather, the regime must have become more strict during the fifties and sixties. It wasn't too bad when I was there, with the exception of Brother Peter - the headmaster who, as far as I can remember, never smiled and the utterly obnoxious Brother Wilfrid. Apart from enjoying hurting young boys - a total sadist - he was the most appalling snob. If you were middle class and reasonablly proficient at Maths you were one of his favourites but if you came from a poor background you were treated by him with utter contempt. God knows how this man, who was scarcely a human being, ever became a teacher. Brother Maximus, on the other hand, although he used the strap, didn't really believe in it and kept it soft to the point where it meant nothing to be beaten by him. I don't suppose he could stand out against the ethos of the school but he did his best. The remainder of the brothers I can hardly remember, but none of them was much of a teacher. The same applied to the lay staff, with the exception of Miss Ekin - a lovely woman who clearly enjoyed her calling. Eventually I got tired of the whole set-up there and got myself transferred to Chesterfield Grammar School, where I finally got a proper education, going on to Oxford a couple of years later. If I were ever tempted to return to Roman Catholicism I would only have to remember my time at De La Salle to cause me to change my mind.

[fortysixer 10]

Looking at what I said above about the lay staff, I was a little unfair to the chemistry master, Mr Hopkins. I couldn't stand chemistry but it was quite clear, even to me, that he was a good and committed teacher. Apart from him, however, only Miss Ekin and Brother Maximus were good teachers and some of the brothers were unbelievably bad. I still remember the ancient - he must have been 70+ - brother John who 'taught' Geography. The only thing I can ever remember his saying is that 'The Doldrums', in spite of appearances to the contrary, was a singular noun and had to take a singular verb. God, he was boring!

[pjkay 10]

Goodbye DLS..Too much time spent talking about bad times.. My life has been great since I left. So I learnt that somethings are wonderful ,if they are in your rear view mirror, and you are accelerating away . PK Cape Town

[fortysixer 10]

It is probably best, as pjKay says, to let it go. The mention of Notre Dame (apparently a much better school) brings back one memory, however. It was a couple of years before I went back to Sheffield, going with a few friends to a concert at the City Hall - Humphrey Littleton, if I remember. We sat next to a group of girls and began chatting. One of them I remembered being at Notre Dame when I was at De La Salle. After the concert I asked if I could take her home and she agreed. Her parents ran a bed and breakfast establishment in Totley. We arranged to meet again a few days later and this time we took advantage of her parents' absence to enjoy each other's virginity in one of the guest rooms. What we lacked in expertise we made up for in enthusiasm and the memory has lived with me for over 50 years. Afterwards, as we lay smoking a cigarette - we did in those days - she laughed and said, "What would my nuns and your brothers say if they saw us now?" I said I didn't know what they would say but that I could imagine what they would feel - envy!

Edited October 31, 2009 by fortysixer

[pjkay 10]

Shame on you fortysixer..The young girls cover is now blown. Guess she's past her sell by date and the Parents long gone.. My sister ex Notre Dame still in Sheffield..saw her in

2006. First time in Sheffield for 26yrs. My how the place has changed. Didnt know my way around. We never had a Guest house at Totley, thank God. The lure of Africa and the sunshine claimed me in 1972. Now going into my 73rd year I have fond memories of Sheffield but not the weather. Best Regards Peter. Cape Town

[aston dave 10]

I'm sorry but I don't recognise the De La Salle College that I attended. I was there from 1948 to 1952, and I well remember Brother Wilfred who was at that time deputy to Brother Leonard who was then headmaster, and his 'strap', but don't recall anyone, me included, ever being punished without deserving it.

I also recall Mr Wall, the PE master, who was never anything but fair, tough perhaps but no more than that. I remember being made to continue a fight with gloves on, in the Gym, at his insistence.

I do remember being singled out by dear Winnie Eakin, but that was because she had been at Notre Dame with my mother whose standards I obviously failed to match, but even then, never without reason.

At the time I was there, very few boys were fee paying pupils. I would guess that 95% of us were scholarship boys and I never noticed any difference in treatment.

Aston dave.

Edited November 7, 2009 by aston dave
typo

[pjkay 10]

Well read the website in detail..You seem to have sailed under the radar..But thats fine..Do you remember Glenny the guy who lived at Coal Aston.. In my class and had the biggest.. Showed it to all nearly got caught by Bro Christopher..Bro Chris ws the one who taught French and punished on the fingers with a sharp side of the ruler..All very civilsed..He did not use the special straps the other brothers had.. Glad you loved the fair discipline..

[Tonyt 10]

I was very sorry to find that the original site had disappeared but am very pleased to find that it is still accessible via the Wayback Machine.

 

I too, had untold trouble with Orange and ditched it when I recently moved home.

 

I can well understand the attitude of past pupils regarding a small number of Brothers who had, a somewhat, twisted approach to teaching and discipline.

 

There were however some very gifted teachers there, both 'religeous' and lay.

It is a pity that, in life, the positive tends not to be remembered so well.

 

Clearly a large number of pupils benefited from their education at DLSC. A number, like myself, would have benefited more if they had applied themselves to the task involved.

 

Two good friends were sacked just before they sat their GCE, I was put on probation.

 

Nevertheless the school was held in high respect in South Yorkshire, the pupil places were much sought for.

 

I am sure St.John the Baptist De La Salle must have turned in his grave at the presence of some Brothers who entered the Order.

 

[pensionipper 11]

Pjkay - Glenny! Glendenning. You must have been in the same class as myself as I sat next to Glenny for a while (2a?) where he spent the whole of his time drawing bombers, tanks and 'Mighty Antar' transporters, no matter what the official subject was. Recently an O.S.T. guy recognised me from De La Salle and we had a bit of a chat: Barry Gay. I wouldn't have recognised him as the last time I saw him was in 1954 or 55! Toddy, Ward, Redfearn, Durkin, 'Dusty' Dawson - ring any bells? Never knew about Glenny's 'blessing', though. Crazy days. Good luck!

[Tonyt 10]

Pjkay - Glenny! Glendenning. You must have been in the same class as myself as I sat next to Glenny for a while (2a?) where he spent the whole of his time drawing bombers, tanks and 'Mighty Antar' transporters, no matter what the official subject was. Recently an O.S.T. guy recognised me from De La Salle and we had a bit of a chat: Barry Gay. I wouldn't have recognised him as the last time I saw him was in 1954 or 55! Toddy, Ward, Redfearn, Durkin, 'Dusty' Dawson - ring any bells? Never knew about Glenny's 'blessing', though. Crazy days. Good luck!

 

Clearly we were all in the same class. There were two Gays - Kevin Barry and Barry Kevin - one was the uncle of the other. Glenny's mother was I believe a teacher and he always seem to have a few bob - unlike myself.I was kicked out of the under13 school side as my Dad could not afford to pay the sports fund set up by Capt.Wall for equipment - I had two other brothers at the school at the same time as myself.

 

My two friends were Peter Kendrick - who had a very nice sister - lived at Norton and Donald Sinclair Baker who lived near us at Hunters Bar.

 

Malcolm Redfearn lives in the USA, Thornton is Aberdeen and Michael Holden lives in Devon - they have all been in touch. Sadly Ewart Sandham died when he was only 21 of Hodgkinsons whilst he was in the RAF. I had kept in touch with him after leaving DLSC.