|
Reproduced by kind permission of the Crosby Herald.
OCR Transcript:
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE
From Southport and Ormskirk, from Formby and Bootle, and from many of the townships of South-West Lancashire, as well as from all parts of the Borough of Crosby itself, over a thousand boys each day make their way to St. Mary’s College, where 830 of them are pupils in the grammar school and 220 in the preparatory school which is accommodated in the adjacent Everest House and at the Mount, Blundellsands.
The school was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1919 and is therefore the youngest of the Borough’s six grammar schools, but Claremont House, which is now the community residence and around which the school has grown, is 100 years old this year.
The house was build by a John da Costa, a merchant who was a representative of the Southern States during the American civil war, and the school has on its Liverpool Road frontage a magnificent pair of iron gates with, picked out in the school colours of maroon and gold, the eagle of the American coat of arms on the gate-posts.
It was just prior to the First World War that Archbishop Whiteside anxious to provide grammar school education for Catholic boys who lived between Southport and Bootle, asked the Superior General of the Christian Brothers to found such a school. Plans were laid, and indeed some arrangements were made, but the war brought about a postponement.
GOOD WORKS
The Order which the Archbishop had approached had been founded in Waterford in 1802 by Edmund Ignatius Rice, a middle-aged widower who was a rich merchant, and who decided to devote his life to good works. He established a school for the education of young boys, and so successful was his effort that in his own lifetime he saw further schools established in England, Gibraltar and Australia. His good work has now spread throughout the English speaking world and beyond.
The Christian Brothers’ first foundation in England was at Preston in 182 and by the middle of the century there were no less than six of their schools in Liverpool, schools which during the cholera epidemic of 1846-47 were turned into temporary hospitals where the Brothers nursed the sick and where several of them lost their lives as a result of doing this charitable work.
For a variety of reasons, the Brothers withdrew from their six schools, but they returned to Liverpool in 1900 to take charge of the Pupil Teachers’ Training Centre in Mersey Street, and in 1902 of the Catholic Institute in Hope Street. Their great success, under Bro. C. S. Leahy and Bro. J. G. Robinson, led to the Archbishop asking that the Christian Brothers should found a school in Crosby.
After the Armistice in 1918, plans for the grammar school were immediately revived, and in November of that year Claremont House and its two acres of land were purchased for the purpose. It is an interesting coincidence that on an 18th century map of the Crosby district the area is marked as “the school field” a prophetic title as events proved.
When the Christian Brothers bought Claremont House, the only buildings were the house itself, the stables and the greenhouses attached to it, these original buildings forming only a very small fraction of the fine property which is the school to-day.
The first Principal as Bro. Leahy, and the school when it opened in September 1919, with 62 pupils was called The Catholic Institute. The opening weeks sere a time of great difficulty. Not only was there a shortage of accommodation the Brothers using the upstairs of the house as living quarters, and the lower rooms as classrooms - but the rail strike of that year meant that for the first few weeks f the term there was no school furniture.
ROLL INCREASED
The number of pupils rose steadily and in 1923, when they had reached 120, it was decided that plans must be made for the first buildings to be especially constructed for school purposes. At this time, Bro. Leahy was recalled to the Catholic Institute, Liverpool, and Bro. P. Duggan who succeeded him speedily translated the plans into action. Within weeks the first sod was cut, and at this same time the name of the school was changed to St. Mary’s College.
The new building which was opened in 1924 by Archbishop Keating, included classrooms and a science room. Unfortunately it was only part of the intended whole, but financial difficulties were a problem even then.
At the official opening, Bro. Duggan remarked: “To many the work seemed unpromising; as with pioneer work a beginning was made under difficulties due entirely to the want of proper classroom accommodation and suitable facilities for developing our work.
Hitherto the school was of necessity more or less of a preparatory nature. Our new curriculum will include every subject usually taught in the best secondary schools and in our highest forms the standard will be that required entrance to Universities.
BRAVE WORDS
At that time, the words seemed brave, their fulfilment improbable, but the continued development of the school and the splendid achievements of recent years have proved Bro. Duggan’s remarks to have been prophetic.
During his term as Principal and until he had to retire owing to ill-health, he did a great deal towards setting the school on its successful course. A playing field was purchased and the Ministry of Education gave the College recognition as a Direct Grant School.
Between 1925 and 1939 there was steady progress, numbers increasing until they reached the 300 mark. A Sixth Form, devoted entirely to modern studies, was established and the first university places gained.
teaching of instrumental music as a class subject-every boy receiving tuition in string or wind instruments-and he purchased Everest House as a separate Preparatory School.
FUTURE PLANNING
He caved and planned for the buildings which he felt the school needed for the future. The large extension which was built between 1949 (the year of Bro. Thompson’s retirement) and 1951, was his plan.
Facing Coronation Park and fronting Claremont Road, the building doubled the previous accommodation, and provided chemistry, physics and biology laboratories, a library, art room, crafts room, geography room, further classrooms, and a dining hall. In 1952, the preparatory department was transferred to Blundelisands.
With the accommodation problem eased, further major developments took place during the 150’s. A third modern language, economics, Russian for Sixth Form science students, were all added to the curriculum, and there was large increase in the number of boys in the Sixth Form.
The offer of the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Education in Schools was accepted, and the opportunity taken to complete the original school building.
ADDITIONS
During 1958 and ‘59, the latest additions to the school were built and officially opened by the Archbishop of Liverpool in 1961-the fine administrative building with its clock tower, the laboratories behind the gymnasium, and the large lecture room with a seating capacity of 120.
Of ultra modern design and push button efficiency, the room is equipped for film projection and large screen television viewing. It is indeed a lecture room of which any university might be proud. The school which had but one laboratory in 1950 now has six.
The school’s official brochure stresses From its foundation St. Mary’s has recognised that its principal duty is to instill into its pupils the fundamental fact that ‘man does not live by bread alone.’ Christian instruction holds first place, and it strives to make the teaching as practical as possible; each day school work begins and ends with prayer.
“As the clock strikes the hour all school work ceases that it might be offered in silent prayer to the Creator; thus may life be made more fruitful. Boys are taught that Christianity is a Way of Life.
“The school is proud of the fact that there are more Old Boys ordained priests than years since its foundation, and that there are at the present time over 40 past students in seminaries of members of religious orders. Naturally, special devotion is shown in honouring the School Patron. She whom our ancestors called ‘St. Mary, the Virgin.’ “
Since 1954 five groups of boys have gone on pilgrimage to Lourdes, and already over 280 have signified their intention of going there in 1964.
But, while true emphasis is placed on the Christian foundation of education, the school’s academic record is notable. There are now over 160 pupils in the Sixth Forms - 100 science students, and 68 studying classics and moderns.
The boys have gained Open Scholarships in classics, moderns and science subjects to Oxford. Cambridge and London Universities, and the average annual university entry of over 30 pupils have more than fulfilled the hopes expressed by Bro. Duggan in 1924.
Splendid Record
In 1962, forty pupils entered universities and since last September four Open Scholarships to Oxford have been awarded to pupils and five others have gained Commoners’ places there.
It is not, however, only the bright y in whom St. Mary’s College is interested. Full advantage has been taken of the right of entry by its own entrance examination and many boys who woud otherwise not have had the chance or a grammar school education have thus studied there. Well over thirty of these boys have now entered universities.
It is somewhat of a disadvantage that the playing fields are over a mile from the school, but they are used five afternoons a week, and three pavilions with showers and kitchens provide proper facilities there.
The playing fields include two cricket squares, and in the field of athletics there has been notable progress, St. Mary’s boys being among Lancashire Schools Champions, and Old Boys having run for Oxford and for England.
In the winter months there are twelve XV’s, and boys have been chosen for Lancashire sides and Old Boys turned out for Lancashire, Cheshire, Hertford. Wiltshire. England and Ireland.
Among indoor activities, the annual play productions have been highly successful, and at the annual speech day. which since 1948 has been held in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, an especially enjoyable feature has been the singing of a choir of over 200 voices and the playing of an orchestra of 90 instrumentalists.
The orchestra had its beginnings when class instruction in instrumental music was instituted in 1944. The boys played together as an orchestra in 1948, and since that time it has gone from strength to strength.
The speech day is the highlight of the orchestral year, and a proud landmark in its history is the occasion when it was chosen to entertain the guests at the ceremony, when Lord Alexander came to Crosby to receive the freedom of the borough.
The college has at the present time a full-time staff of 50 (at the grammar school and the preparatory school) with additional part-time visiting staff, and: is very proud of the fact that their numbers includes several former pupils.
STRONG BOND
There is, indeed, a strong bond between the school and its former pupils, many of whom are members of the Old Boys’ Association, an association which has recently opened a new well-equipped clubroom in Moor Lane, Crosby.
Since the end of the war, £160,000 has been spent in bringing St. Mary’s up to its present very high standard, and of this amount £120,000 still has to be liquidated.
Now it is producing men of the future – the nuclear physicist in Geneva, the chemist lecturing in the U.S.A., members of the Foreign Office, Parliamentary Private Secretaries arid missionaries to distant lands.
And all of them are inspired by the school motto – Fidem Vita Fateri (Show your faith in your life).
|
