St. Edwards College Cheswardine Hall

This little man walked onto the stage at the front, looking much like a priest and started talking. He had a strange accent, was dressed in a cassock and was wearing a dog collar.
I can't remember much of what he was talking about other than the religious life and teaching.
Even at the tender age of 12 I had been thinking about what I had wanted to do when I left school and I had teaching in mind. Having been brought up Catholic and assisting at all sorts of religious ceremonies and morning mass at the priest’s house for a number of years, the thought of a religious life appealed even though, in my naivety, it meant little to me.
Priests, bishops and so on had always seemed to be very special people who had abilities and attitudes at a higher level than the rest of us, even above my favourite teachers. They appeared, to me, to put aside their personal feelings for a much higher purpose beyond my comprehension.
His recruiting ground was determined by the location of Catholic communities in London, the midlands and north taking in Southampton, the home of St. Mary's. For accommodation he relied on families of already recruited juvenists.
He came looking for me to tell me how he'd had to spend a couple of days in bed with the flu which might have been longer but for my Dad's remedy, VAT 69 whisky served in hot water with sugar (a drink known as a 'hot one' I enjoy to this day on winter visits to Ireland). "Your farder's VAT 69 cured me straight away', he was delighted to tell me.


Brother Philip replaced Brother James in 1951 as Superior and Master of Juvenists.
One of his first instructions was that we, the Juvenists, should stop calling each other Brother. This took a bit of getting used to. He came from Pell Wall.
I thought he was very avant garde with his rimless spectacles. He was very keen that we be English, in manners, ettiquette, elocution, and education. I think he was a great success and I owe him a great deal. Philip replaced Bro Stephen as provincial at that time.
He was a good Br. Superior. Was very certain of himself and understood the boys during their developmental years. A darned good photographer too and developed a slide show of the grounds through the four seasons.
It always mesmerised me as I had never seen the grounds in quite the same way. I wish I could find out the name of the music he played as background to the slide show as it fitted so well and sometimes plays in my head even so many years later. If I ever loved a man he was it. I shed a little tear even now remembering him.
Subsequently he left the order to become a priest at Ealing Abbey. I visited him there once in the mid-1970s and he seemed content. The last time I saw him was at Malcolm Prince's ordination in Liverpool c. 1982.