The Guildhall (opposite the presbytery) was an important space for: plays, dances, scouts, clubs, and conferences.
Important parishioners could reserve their places in church. 'Bench rents for the quarter are now due.'
Some pillars of the parish (a boy's version, of course):
Brooks: a friendly, hospitable family in Harvey Road.
Browning: Tom (turf accountant) and second wife Marguerite lived in Parkwood Rd and brought up a large family.
Anne Cahill came to church with her mother in pony and trap.
Dr McKinney: his family continued his great service to the parish.
The Smalley house was on the corner of Darracott and Parkwood Roads. It was famous among the young for the tortoise in the garden.
Mrs Powell was an organising presence for parish occasions.
Schools (1):
Holy Cross School was the elementary school, the downmarket version of the Convent of the Cross School next door.
Miss McCaffrey was headmistress, addicted to Mrs Gaskell's Cranford as the book for the top class, and a dab hand in keeping order.
Mother Egan (later headmistress, as Sr Margaret Mary) took the middle forms. Her chosen book was Prester John. She was known to show boys how to knock their conkers off the tree, and had great sympathy with the individualist. 'I never stopped him day-dreaming, because it was clear that something important was happening.'
Miss Kent (later Sr Mary Emanuela RHCJ) took the lower forms.
In the course of the school's existence, 1 girl got a scholarship (to Bournemouth School for Girls); other pupils who passed the written test, myself included, seemed to fail their orals!
The boys' playground was a rough place with a preponderance of Irish for whom aggressive behaviour seemed usual.
Francis Buttegieg and Philip Coward were friends. The former's father puzzled me with his lament for the break-up of the Mauretania: she was like a sister to me! My introduction to service loyalty, I suppose.
Schools (2):
St Peter's School opened in 1936. It started, not just as a secondary school for day-boys, but also as preparatory boarding school (for boys in weak health). The building had been first conceived as a sanatorium, and later became Grassendale (a school for girls). (My Latin Grammar was inscribed Vesta Tilley).
The classes were called by the traditional names of Elements, Rudiments, Figures, Grammar, and Syntax.
Fr Luke Bellanti SJ was first headmaster, an ascetic figure, who put the fear of God into us. 'I have chosen a motto for this school: In Verbo Tuo, At Thy Word!'
He was succeeded by Fr Terry Mulvany, a gentle whimsical soul, who seemed not quite of this world. Haec olim meminesse juvabit.
Mr Francis Kelly was my first form master. He was a better footballer than Latinist, but I did learn!
Mr Andrew Gordon was another member of staff in 1936 and announced himself as: My Name is Gordon; you call me, Sir!'
There were others: Mr Feeney (P.E.), Mrs Drummond-Murray (Matron),
Mr Fuzzy (faisait) Holdsworth (French), Mr Peter Simon (French), Fr Leslie Borrett SJ (French), Mr John Gerkins SJ, among them, but those of particular importance to me were:
Mr Patrick Treanor SJ, my form master for my last two years at school, who taught Latin extremely well. In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria, si quem numina laeva sinunt, auditque vocatus Apollo.
His English lessons were centred on the writing of essays with subjects like: canes timidi vehementius latrant. His religious lessons were humane. His history strayed too much into 19th century Irish history.
Fr Carmelo Meli SJ, taught maths competently and introduced general science for which he equipped the labs.
Mr Raymond (Pog) Bacon SJ, who rescued our French. He initiated the Old Boys' Association. (The first annual dinner: Sausage and Mash, the mustard mixed with beer.)
One brilliant temporary master was Mr Joseph Smith SJ who surprised us by teaching Maths one term, and Latin the next (and incidentally translating a jingle into Latin hexameters for our benefit: Go to Father, she said, when I asked her to wed, In hoc modo respondit Camilla).
We had, too, a term of Fr Ernest Vignaux SJ, a mathematician way above our heads!
Some boys: my own class:
Hackett; Hanes (a good friend, later shot down over North Italy during the closing stages of the war); Magee; Meade; Morgan (later a doctor), and Thistleton.
For others (among them: Bernard Darke; John Hannah; Michael Heron; Den Mangan; Maurice Rogers; Keith Watson) consult St Peter's Past Pupils!
[Please never ask me about games. I am a non-player].
Studies are a different matter. Within the limits of its time, St Peter's provided an imaginative introduction to learning, and the community relied more on friendly formality than fear of punishment.
I always thought of the staff as older friends. Within that context, as I have more than hinted, our studies were not driven by the syllabus or the passing of exams, but by a wider culture, both literary, and scientific, which encouraged an appreciation of the contemporary as well as the past.
What about religion?
When the controversy over Pope Pius XII's silence blew up, I was able to recall the document: Mit Brenender Sorge from my school days. Our religious lessons were never confined to the explanation of the catechism. The Christian behaviour expected was evident in those who taught us.
Bored? Remember that our major amusements were: cycling, reading, and swimming.
One big moment was practising for French orals with the poilus evacuated from Dunkirk in June, 1940.
'50 Years as a Catholic Priest'
by Ruth Oliver, Bournemouth Echo
Father Peter Hackett celebrated 50 years as a Catholic priest at Corpus Christ! Church, Boscombe, at a 12 noon Mass on July 31.
The church was packed for the occasion, with friends coming from great distances, along with local parishioners. A magnificent buffet and celebration cake was enjoyed in the parish centre after the Mass.
Father Peter, 82, who originally comes from Woodside Road, West Southbourne, told me: "I was amazed at the number of people from my past that came to the celebration and the response from the parish was absolutely amazing."
One of three brothers, all of whom became Catholic priests, Father Peter joined the Jesuit order in 1942 before being called up to the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve the following year.
For two years he served in the Mediterranean, and was present at the surrender of Crete. Late in 1946 he returned to the Jesuits, and finished his Noviceship training in March 1947.
His priestly training took him to Oxford University, and to Heythrop College in north Oxfordshire, where he was ordained priest on July 31, 1957.
The next 25 years were spent in secondary education at Jesuit-run secondary schools.
From 1984 to 1988 he was Master of Campion Hall, Oxford, before moving into London to help edit 'The Month', a monthly review of faith and culture.
He spent a couple of years in the mid-'90s as parish priest in Barbados, and then went to work as a pastor in Zimbabwe for three years, where his younger brother Mark has worked most of his life.
On return to England, Father Peter spent a year in Central London on pastoral work, and has been back on home ground helping at Corpus Christi, Boscombe, his original family parish church, since 2001.
"I don't feel 82!" Father Peter told me. "Looking back over the last 50 years, I've not always done what I would have chosen, but I've always enjoyed what I did - largely because of the people I've met."
|
