De La Salle College

[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]

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]

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]

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.

Edited November 22, 2012 by POLSKI
addendum

[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?

Edited November 23, 2012 by Shaun Walton
Cross-reference added

[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

Edited November 23, 2012 by Shaun Walton
Omitted name

[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]

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:clap: