If you went to St Anne’s Prep or Xaverian College Manchester in the sixties why not add your own contribution? You might have something to say about my recollections or your own unique take on what life was like at our school all those years ago. We are all getting on somewhat and it would be pity to lose those experiences for all time. Judging by my own teaching experiences in Further Education, what was happening in schools in the sixties has gone forever. “And a good thing too!” I can hear some say. But it wasn’t all bad. I would argue that Xaverian College taught many students from poor working class backgrounds values and social skills that have enabled them to progress much further than might be the case today. In the words of a 1965 O level Eng Lit paper “Discuss”
Manchester Xaverian in the Sixties
Life in a Manchester Catholic grammar school
I WAS AT ST ANNE’S FROM 1953 TO 58. OUR SCHOOL BULLY WAS CALLED CHUBB -WE WERE ALL SCARED OF HIM . I SAW HIM 20 YEARS LATER AT A TRADE FAIR AND HE WAS TOTALLY CHARMING !
THERE WERE SOME VIOLENT TEACHERS – THROWING BOARD DUSTERS AT BOYS HEADS ETC.
I WENT ON TO MAIN XAVS AND THEN ART COLLEGES IN MANCHESTER AND LEICESTER. MY CAREER WAS IN DESIGN WORKING FOR GM AND AUDI AND LATER FREELANCE FOR ASTON MARTIN AND BENTLEY. IN THE PICTURES THE TEACHER WITH THE GLASSES WAS A REALLY GOOD TEACHER -AN EX-PARATROOPER BUT I CANT REMEMBER HIS NAME.
John
I think I remember you. The teacher in the photo was Mr Quayle and I don’t know anyone who has had a bad word to say about him. Thanks for the info I had no idea he was ex-army.
He was a gentleman! I was there 59 to 63. Looked after me when I broke my leg in the classroom (unattended!) during an altercation with another boy!
John, I’ve just discovered this web site. We used to be quite good friends before our paths diverged. I now live in Melbourne, Australia. How about you?
I, too, remember you at the Prep. You played full back for Barlow (Higginbottom was the other). We always got slaughtered by Arrowsmith who had Mike Neary up front, Micke Vesey in goal and a pretty nifty inside left by the name of Paul Richards! (I was the weedy lad on the right wing for Barlow)
Brother Leo was head at St Anne’s during my first year there (1954-55). He was notable for having one brown and one blue eye. Also, he enjoyed heading a tennis ball with the lads during the lunch break. He was already balding at the time, so that when he went back into class in the afternoon, his head was covered in tennis ball shaped smudges.
Further to my earlier reply, in the 1955-56 season David Ansbro completed a fearsome front three for Arrowsmith every Wednesday morning. Our chief weapon was the very speedy Frank Steward.
I was at St Anne’s Prep from 1967 – 1970 and then Xaverian from 1970 – 1977. It seems like a lifetime ago now..well it is.
I visited the school last year and it brought back so many memories.
Carefully looked through the 1966 school photo and found myself on the back row in front of one of the drainpipes!, and next to my best pal at the time John Ansbro. Looking through the faces I remember over twenty by sight but not by name. It must have been ‘O’ level year. St Anne’s 1958-61 I think(goalie in the footie team), then Xavs to ’68. We all called Cyril ‘Lung’ in that sweet ways boys did. He and I didn’t get on from start to finish. I always found him hostile – perhaps because my father was a deputy-head at M/C Central Grammar – and wouldn’t teach at a Catholic school (he agreed to help out at Xavs when he retired – including my class for maths – what a nightmare). Aged about 8 or 9, walking to St Anne’s from Fallowfield station I stepped out of a row of cars and was knocked down. He did his level best to make me feel guilty. When I went in for my A level results he said I hadn’t got what I needed – and he was wrong. I remember getting six of the best a few times, and the key thing was not to show pain – not to give that satisfaction at least. My cousin John was head-boy around a decade before me and a bit of a star, with more than a passing resemblance to Cary Grant. I remembered Mr Lackey fondly, tried to teach me British Government in the sixth form, and only got my dreadful jokes from the back row, but he was still a good sport.
Hi. James Dow Grant here, the kid who was half German and got the nickname “Herman the German. I was at Xavs from 1960 to 1967. Good friends were David Armstrong and Steven Tattersall and sadly I cant remember the others’ names. I loved my time there and remember Mr Crotty– poor guy, Pug Diamond, Mr Sellars who wanted me to learn to play the double-base—no way I was carrying that home on a bus! Dropped music then– to my regret now. Bro Finbarr, Mr Newton (wall bar hanging and shorts inspections), Mr Halstead, Pop Eaton– hated the theorems sessions, Mr Price and copying out chapters from the History textbook as a punishment, and Bro Pius whom I adored. Latin was my best subject. I remember when he died we were in Rome on a school trip to see the Pope and I was so devastated at Bro Pius’ death that staff asked me if I wanted to be flown home for his funeral. How kind the staff were. I’ve never forgotten that. Anyway, I eventually became a teacher and retired a few years ago as Head of a school for Dyslexic children. Am still self-employed two days a week as a specialist dyslexia tutor at a local public boarding & day school in Hampshire. My very best wishes to all.
Thanks for this James – good stuff. I have a vague memory of you – I seem to remember you had quite short hair – all one can hope for when you reach our age! ‘Latin was my best subject’, all I can say is shame they changed the mass to the vernacular in that case!
If you have any further memories please get in touch and I will put them on the site. If you have any other friends who were at Xavs who you are still in touch with, please spread the word.
Bob Cummings
I was at Xavs from 1963 to 1970 and don’t remember you – but am also half-german like you – meine Mutter war aus Düsseldorf ! Where was yours from ? Thanks to your post, I’ve rediscovered the names of my Music and French teacher to whom I personally owe a hell of a lot ! Unfortunately Latin was a poor subject for me – in part because of my sloth, but also because of my teacher – for O-level we should have been studying the “Aeneiad” instead of the “in Bello gallico” which I found more than tedious ! I was an architect for historical monuments (in France where I live) but like my German family – mostly French language-teachers, have also taught English to Frenchmen for 8 years (the German family taught French to Germans since 3 generations !) and I now (retired) help Syrian and Lebanese refugees to learn French ! Life takes some strange détours…Would like to hear from you ! All the best JF
(John-Francis , meine Eltern haben mir einen unmöglichen – für englischen Gewohnheiten – Doppelnamen verpaßt!
Seen from the UK, we live close to Geneva, dans l’Ain / France. précisément à F 01 680 LHUIS/ AIn, France
Oh yes! the Rome school trip to see the Pope, I still have a black and white photo of the Pope looking straight at me when I clicked my Brownie 127 as he was being carried in. I remember you being there James Grant (that half German was a dead giveaway) – a group of us had a walk around some Olympic stadium with sporting statues dotted around the place. I think I’ve still got some old B+W photos filed away somewhere of that trip.
I’m still proud of my Latin ‘O’ level as I was one of the – I think 5 or 6 – who didn’t walk out after the obligatory hour.
Not met many guys from Xavs after I left.
regards, Phil
Any photos gratefully received, Phil!
Bob
I returned to M/c with my family from the West Indies in 1962 and after the “11 plus”” was enrolled in 1963 in the Xaverian College, which my own father (born in 1911) had attended.. Completely at loss, having learnt Spanish, south American History and geography without the vaguest notions of English/UK history nor geography, my first year at the Xaverian was a disaster ! Brother Xavier (French teacher, but also hispanophone) would say to me “I’m asking you to reply in French !” We had an amazingly enthusiastic and competent music teacher (I’ve forgotten his name) in my first years. And for several years my class (x+3) had an equally competent and awesome English teacher – Jack Connelly – I was personally in awe of him because of his physical resemblance and similar dress-code with my own father (with at least 35 years difference that I hadn’t computed at the time!) Whenever we had to choose a poem or other text, I would ask my father for advice, which I followed with my father’s comments and appreciations on the text – Connelly and my father might have been twins – I always had higher marks ! Our maths teacher was Mr Dewhurst, and I have a special thank-you for our French teacher (Bernard ….); who saw us through O- and A-levels and myself through German A-level.
I have no nostalgia for my first years at the Xaverian before 6th-form – I always felt relatively lost, without friends, and produced the minimum in terms of scolastics. With dismal results at Xmas before my O-levels, I decided to open and READ my text-books in chemistry, history I.A. and managed to obtain 8 subjects for my O-levels !
I have forgotten the names of my class-mates – but remember the unforgettable Corscadden (we waited together at the same bus-stop, with him singing Ken Dodd’s “all I’ve got is (h)a-pe-niss” to the amusement of the other by-standers)- and Phillips, John Lees. I also remember being next to Faddon in class -who was asthmatic like me.
We are all getting older, with families and friends. I would be delighted to have feed-back from my class-mates ! I live in France now – near Geneva, seen from the UK . Precisely in Lhuis / Ain (postcode 01 680). Should anyone be in the area – drop in to see us!) Take care or yourselves ! JF