Manchester Xaverian in the Sixties
Life in a Manchester Catholic grammar school
Julian Bowyer writes from Australia Hi Bob, I have been surfing the NET and come across my old school! I was at St Annes from 1959 through to 1963, when I went over to Ward Hall until 1965 when my parents moved South. I am fascinated by the articles and photos on the Website. There … Read more
I had attended a catholic primary school before escaping to the relative tranquillity of St Anne’s Prep. The catechism lessons had begun at an early age and have been implanted in my long term memory (‘Who made you? God made me’ etc). I always had a problem with the idea of theft – what if … Read more
My thanks to Dale Littler for sending me the following class photos. These were taken on a yearly basis – not quite sure of the location. If you can identify yourself in either of these, please get in touch and send your recollections.
I remember at the Prep School Brother Cyril set us a maths homework and told us that he was going to allow us to mark our own efforts. In retrospect we should have seen the trap that was being set – I am sure he did it to every new intake. After we had marked … Read more
I have genuine confusion regarding my thoughts on Brother Cyril Birtles who died in April 2014 aged 88. I will try and recollect my feelings from fifty odd years ago as accurately as I can. On the one hand, I remember a man with a good sense of humour who was capable of acts of kindness. On … Read more
The school was located on Wilbraham Road at the Wilmslow Road end. It was a large Victorian villa in its own grounds with playing fields to the right. It was between Wellington Road and Chervil Street, both of which are residential streets. Today there is little sign that there was ever a building there, … Read more
St Anne’s Prep was on Wilbraham Road, Fallowfield. A large grey house behind tall wrought iron gates set in a privet hedge and surrounded on three sides by tarmac which was the playground. The back of the school was adjacent to playing fields which consisted of football pitches and artificial cricket strips made out of a … Read more
From the age of five I attended St Clare’s Catholic Primary School in Blackley. At that time the church was little better than a Nissen hut but the American born parish priest Father George had great plans for a new church which eventually came to pass. However, in the fifties the primary school suffered … Read more