UPDATE
Items that may have been
added since your last visit

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PREVIOUS UPDATES RECORDED IN THE WEBSITE DIARY


• 31st December 2003

You will find a new entry on Page 35 of the Histories section, which I have been wanting to complete for several weeks.
Sincere thanks to the ever-faithful Tony Smyth and John and Margaret Morton for this bolt from the blue. Not forgetting Fr Gerard Scriven WF and his talented illustrator, Sister Mary Barbara.

See y'all in 2004. Paul
• 15th December 2003

1. The fourth and final page of Kevin Wiseman's photos is now displayed on Page 160 of the Gallery. (Thank you for your patience)

2. Christmas is a comin' and I haven't sent any cards yet. (How about you ?) I will have to make this a priority, but will try to feed the website as and when I can.

3. In case I forget — sincere thanks, once again, to all those people who kindly sent me such wonderful material during the past year.
At the start of 2003 we were up to Page 89 in the Gallery and we are now on Page 160. Also, umpteen pages have been added to the HISTORIES section and the Appendices have been introduced. It's been a good year for the website — but just imagine what would have happened if nobody had sent me any new material.

4. During the past year I have also been to two excellent reunions and have met up with many new faces from the past (such as Danny O'Hagan and Bernie Ahearn from my era). And during the summer I had coffee in Waitrose with John and Carole Fowles — after 46 years !

Have a good Christmas, if I don't see you before.

• 8th December 2003 — things are a bit slow at the moment, but will gradually pick up . . .

We are very fortunate to have been lent a collection of photos by Celiar, the sister of Fr Kevin Wiseman. These cover some very important gaps in the story and must be quite rare. They start on Page 157 of the GALLERY section and will run and run.

Once again, Eugene has done an excellent job with the identification of most of the individuals.

THANK YOU Celiar and Eugene !

2 appeals have just been posted on the Message Board.

• 1st December 2003 — sorry about the delay !

 David Rose, another parishioner from the days when Heston Parish was run by the White Fathers, has lent me a bundle of photos which really stirs up old childhood memories. You can access these on Page 31 of the Histories section. Some of the photos include priests whom you, too, might have known. David has enabled me to open up another sub-section entitled "Parishioners You Might Have Known".

Thank you, David, for responding so quickly to my request.

• 16th November 2003

Time-travellers, John and Margaret Morton, recently visited Sr Mary Potts WS who lives in retirement near Newquay, Cornwall. They have been friends for several years and enjoy talking about the old days when Mary was based at the White Sisters' convent in Heston. Mary kindly put together a collection of photos from those days, which you can now view when you go to Page 31 of the Histories section — devoted to all things connected to the old Heston parish when it was run by the WFs. (Look at the sub-section entitled "White Fathers and White Sisters you may have known")

ALSO, at long last, illustrations are being added to the biography of Bishop Walsh WF (Page 10 in the Histories section). This biography was given to me by John Morton some time ago, but so far the text has remained un-illustrated. So THANK YOU John, Margaret and Sister Mary for all your help with this.

• 13th November 2003

I am grateful to Estelle Geddes for the three photos that have been recently added to the site. You will find one of them on Page 156 of the Gallery and the other two are Estelle's further contribution to her uncle's tribute — Fr Hugh Monaghan. (Page 1 of the Obituaries section). Estelle lives in New Zealand but is a regular (and most supportive) visitor to the site. Thank you, Estelle.

Please excuse the long delays in getting new material on to the website just recently. (Exhibitions, Exhibitions, Exhibitions). There are also several people who are patiently awaiting replies to emails. Will be back soon.

• 3rdNovember 2003
Mike Ellis gave me a newspaper report of the fire at St Columba's. See Page 14 of the Histories section for this new item. (Thank you, Mike — for this and the other items you have contributed.)

• 1st November 2003
Pages 153, 154 & 155 of the Gallery are now complete, displaying the most recent batch of photos that Eugene sent me.
Some of the material has been rearranged, so you may wish to re-view all 3 pages.

Also, one further entry has been added to Page 34 of the Histories section.

Over the past 3 years, Eugene has supplied us with a huge number of photos and has always tried to provide name/place details where
posible. THANK YOU, Eugene, for this unfailing support.

I'll say it again, because it needs repeating : the website has benefitted greatly from the generosity of dozens of individuals who have taken the time and trouble to search for old photos etc

Question : will I still be adding more pages to this website in a year's time ? The website is now 3 years old and we currently have more than
1000 photos on display. I'm sure that there's still a lot more material 'out there', so please encourage people to search their attics
and get it to me asap. As someone said recently, "Do it NOW — it's later than you think". (Or words to that effect . . .)

• 30th October 2003
Pages 153 & 154 of the Gallery now include even more photos from Eugene — the s'Heerenberg days, this time. (Another page of these to come).

• 26th October 2003
Brother John Ogilvie (James Sweeney) was well known to countless numbers of you, of course — having served most of his missionary life in the various WF houses of formation. Not surprisingly, his name crops up many times throughout this website ; in particular, you can read about him on Pages 8, 11 and 33 of the Histories section and in Eugene's 36th Newsletter. There's also an early photo of him on Page 4 of the Gallery. You can now read an excellent tribute to him in the Obituaries section (just completed).

Sister Hilda Mary Brocklehurst is now featured in the history of Heston Parish : see Page 31 of the Histories section.

• 24th October 2003
Chris Cooper also included a September '61 edition of "Hampshire, the county magazine" in which appeared an article about The Priory. Although it covers familiar ground, it is interesting to view things as they were 42 years ago (yes!). The item is reproduced on Page 34 of the Histories section.

You may not have noticed that I disappeared down to London without warning for 3 days this week — but am back again and tackling the in-tray. While I was away I heard the tail-end of a radio feature which included the following conversation :

Daddy, is 168,000 the largest number in the world ?

Well, there is 168,000 and one, of course.

So I was nearly right then, wasn't I ?

(Whoops — I'm turning into a rheumy-eyed old man. I'll be reproducing "Love Is . . . " captions for your delectation next).

• 17th October 2003
The rest of Chris Cooper's photos are now displayed on Pages 151 and 152 of the Gallery. An appropriate time to say a sincere THANK YOU to Chris for this contribution — and for his patience whil

e waiting for it to appear.

• 16th October 2003
There are only 3 pictures displayed on Page 150 of the Gallery because one of them is a large group photo — which might cause problems for people who use a 'dial-ip connection to the internet. Please let me know if I am making it too difficult for you to download such pages because I might be overloading them with images.

Look, also, at Page 34 of the Histories section, which has only one entry so far. Soon, some background information from Mike Mearns will be displayed there. He has kindly lent me a tape of a certain band which will be familiar to some of you who were at Blacklion. Mike rushed this over from Canada but it arrived too late for the Dryburgh reunion, if you recall.

Can anyone give me an address for James Murphy, please ? I need to return a photo which he lent me when we met at the recent reunion.

• 14th October 2003
The first of Chris Cooper's pictures start on Page 149 of the Gallery.

• 13th October 2003
Chris Cooper sent me two obituaries for Sean Hughesand these can now be read on Page 6 in the Obituaries Section.
Thank you Chris, and apologies for the delay in getting these transcribed.

Sean started at St Columba's in 1958 and then progressed down to The Priory, which he left in 1965 with good academic qualifications. Various references to Sean can be seen throughout this website. In particular, the "Another Outing" article that he wrote (Page 13 of the Histories section), reveals his early interest in politics.

I'd be grateful if any of you are in touch with Sean's family to let them know of this obituary and to see if we can get a better photograph of him in his later years. Email me if you can help with this or have any further comments to add.

• 12th October 2003
John Morton has lent us a set of photos from the mid/late fifties, mostly taken at s'Heerenberg. He has also given me a bundle of Wopsy books and others — and, like Tony Smyth, is patiently waiting for something to appear. Grateful thanks to both of you for these wonderful additions to our archives. They'll be back safely with you before you can say "Goodness me, old chap, I'd forgotten that I'd sent you these. Is that website thing still running, then ?"

Chris Cooper, stop fretting and enjoy your new home and retirement. I promise you that you're now top of the in-tray.

• 11th October 2003
Pages 142 to 147 of the Gallery are now complete. It's worth looking at them again because I have had to make changes to the layout.

• 10thOctober 2003
Page 146 of the Gallery section is currently displaying another set of pictures from Pat Gritton — for which we all say THANKS PAT. Pat has also sent me a tape of the Missa Luba and I hope to bring you a sample of this soon, once I have worked out how to transcribe it into digital form.

Whatever happened to Page 145 of the Gallery, I hear you say ? It's not quite ready, came the reply.

This reminds me of the story Spike Milligan told about the outside loo which was situated in his garden.

On one dark night when he was 'at his toilette' there came a soft tapping on the door.
"Who is it ?" he shouted, grumpily.
There was a moment or two of silence.
"It's somebody else" came the reply from his tiny grandchild outside.

• 9thOctober 2003
Page 144 of the Gallery section now contains pictures of the Dryburgh reunion kindly donated by John and Margaret Morton
• 8thOctober 2003
Page 143 of the Gallery section is now ready and Eugene's Newsletter (No. 44) can be read in the NEWS section.

I have a lot of material here to show you but frustratingly little time to get on with it. For example, Mike Mearns sent me an audio tape to play at the Dryburgh reunion but unfortunately it arrived one day too late. More of this and other material will be appearing soon, godwot.
• 3rd October 2003
The first of the Dryburgh Reunion photos are now on display — see Page 142 of the Gallery section. Please let me have any photos of this event that you would like me to include ASAP, so that I can site them on to successive pages.

Work-in-progress includes the Gallery Index and a " Have Your Say " facility which will help to shape the way ahead — both in terms of the website itself and any other aspect of the Pelicans that you might like to discuss. Both of these will materialise shortly, but please be patient because I am moving into one of those busy work periods again.
• 29th September 2003
Within days of hearing about The Pelicans, Bernie Ahearn has kindly come up with some photos from 1956/7, which you will see displayed on Page 141 of the Gallery.

Thank you Bernie for this immediate response. I have dealt with them straightaway, even though I have a backlog of material to process from Chris Cooper, John Morton, Tony Smyth and Eugene.I am grateful to these people for patiently waiting for their work to appear - and for not objecting to the fact that I don't seem to deal with things in strict order.

After I have dealt with some of the photos that I took at the recent reunion at St Columba's, I will be concentrating an improved access to The Gallery and providing you with an up-to-date index. Yes, at long last, it's on its way Peter (Collyer).
• 22nd September 2003
The final batch of Chris Campbell's pictures are now on display. See the whole collection on Pages 138 - 140 of The Gallery and please email our thanks to him when you get a moment. (Check the CONTACTS section for his details or email me if you don't know how to access the 'confidential list' of contact details).
• 19 thSeptembert 2003
The first of Chris Campbell's pictures are now ready. View them on Page 138 of the Gallery.
• 16 thSeptember 2003
The design of the Message Board has been causing some confusion but hopefully you will find it easier to use now. BraveNet provide the means of accessing the messages and I have only just worked out how to make this transparent.
(They forbid you to tweak their coding but if BraveNet pull the plug I shall tell the world that the owners have beetled off to the Bahamas, leaving the robots in charge).
• 14 thSeptember 2003
Chris Campbell's photos from the early 60's will start on Page 138 of the Gallery shortly — and there is an email from him re-printed on the Message Board which I thought some of you would find interesting.

The strangest thing happened to me just now. I had my browser (Internet Explorer) running and was re-arranging the look of my desktop. I was in the process of dragging a graphics file from one side of the desktop but 'dropped' it as I passed over the browser. It was actually one of the photos/pictures that I had just posted into the Gallery. Explorer grabbed hold of it and displayed it immediately as a full-size photo !

So I picked up a group of several other 'photos' and dropped them into Explorer. It gobbled them up within seconds and I was able to use the browser to view this instant gallery of photos. (Using the 'back' and 'forward' keys). Wundebar.

The original files were not affected, of course. Explorer simply took a copy of anything offered to it.

So here's a quick way of creating a picture gallery of all those photos you have taken with your new digital camera, for example.

I now await a flood of emails from people who discovered this several years ago.
• 13 thSeptember 2003
John Hennebry's batch of photos are starting to appear on Page 136 of the Gallery.
This makes it sound like a miracle, doesn't it ? — like a mirage that gradually comes into focus. The reality is a bit more prosaic, I'm afraid, but the photos are just as good.
THANKS John for sending them. People such as Pat Gritton, Pat McHale, Sean Murphy and Paul Glover are going to be delighted to see these.
• 11 thSeptember 2003
Ken Miller knew several White Fathers (such as Fr Dan Sherry) when he was growing up in Zambia —or Northern Rhodesia as it was then. He emailed some time ago and I decided that it ought to go on to the Message Board, just in case anyone recognises him from those days.
• 10 thSeptember 2003
Fr David Cullen's Word of Thanks is now displayed in the Appeals section. It's a painful story of how so many of the people in that part of Zambia live. Eugene circulated David's email some time ago and I must apologise for not transcribing this sooner.
• 9thSeptember 2003
The remaining photos that Mike Mearns sent us can now be seen on Page 135 of the Gallery section. The backlog of material is gradually being processed — and will start to appear during the next few days, I hope.

If you had an opportunity to have a look at the recently updated LINKS section, you may have spotted Robbie Dempsey' s suggestion : the audio and text of recent BBC RADIO 4 — as per the following website address :
http://www1.thdo.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/misc/missionaries.shtml

It's a very interesting programme that deals with missionaries in various parts fo the world. I am listening to the following as I write :

Programme 1: Ghana
The fight against slavery was a great goal for 19th century missionaries to Africa, like David Livingstone. Many people assume that the fact that Africa today is overwhelmingly Christian is down to the success of those missionaries. The real story is now only beginning to emerge; the slave trade still plays a key role, but not in the way you'd imagine.

I recently downloaded the RealPlayer which (most annoyingly) the BBC use for transmitting our UK Radio programmes and I am therefore able to listen to the audio broadcast whilst I am doing something else.

http://www.real.com/freeplayer/?rppr=rnwk is the download address for the free player.

If you haven't done so already and you like radio, it's worth getting hold of this player. Robbie has found a really interesting series here, presented by the Edmund Stourton.

Note 1 : I've just discovered that if you listen to a whole segment of these recorded programmes, it saves the programme on your hard disk — and you can listen to it again when you want to. Excellenté — I've proved this several times. Is this a way of also collecting plays / comedy / poetry etc from recorded broadcasts from across the world, I wonder ? And is this therefore "streaming audio without the tears" ?

Note 2 : this sort of information should really be filed in the PASSITON section — and I will move it there later.
• 5thSeptember 2003
Mike Mearns' attic has revealed some more gems from the past —see Page 33 of the Histories section — for extracts from the Golden Jubilee issue of the White Fathers' magazine (as it was called in those days) plus a letter to parents from the Father Superior at The Priory 1956.
Thanks a million, Mike for another contribution to the site.

Have you had a look at the Links lately ? Have you seen the way in which you can read all the daily papers on the net ? Want to have a sneaky look at subversive articles in The Tablet without anyone knowing? Go there now ! And have a look at "The Segway" under the "Other Useful Items" category. (If you get one, I'll get one, but there's no way I'm going to be the first to whiz down the street on one of those).
• 3rd September 2003
Eugene has supplied us with more pictures of the Robinson Crusoe panto at Totteridge in 1959—which to me just looks like an excuse to dress up and have fun on stage. (Have you seen the plot ? Nothing whatsover to do with R Crusoe as far as the I can see). Anthony Whelan's two pages of photos of this production are on Pages 107 and 108 already, of course, and Eugene has kindly helped us with most of the names for these as well. Wonderful. Thank you, Eugene, for all this effort.
• 2nd September 2003
See Pages 132 and 133 of the Gallery for more of Eugene's photos of Totteridge in the late fifties and early sixties.

See also Pages 107 and 108 of the Gallery which Eugene has helped me to annotate - pictures of the 1959 Robinson Crusoe Panto at Totteridge in 1959. THANK YOU for all this Eugene - a great help to us all.

Have a look, also, at the Message Board 'front' page to see if it makes more sense. It has been pointed out that the 'Message Bank' (the archive of all previous messages) dominated the page, confusing things for newcomers. Nobody has left a message of late and I am concerned that this might have been the reason.
• 28th August 2003
See Page 131 of the Gallery for new photos of football / rugby teams in Eugene's era (for which, many thanks Eugene).
You'll see some faces that don't appear very often and several from other European countries.
• 27th August 2003
Have you looked at the Gallery lately ? There are some very interesting new entries on Pages 120-130, most of which I haven't publicised because they have only just been completed :

Pages 123 - 124 : Eugene (Deep Throat) MacBride has found some more photos for the collection.
Who ARE his sources ? Was he really the WF's official photographer during the post-war years or is this a lie ?
Whatever. Thanks to Eugene for this unfailing effort to keep the kettle boiling.

Page 125 : photos from Margaret Baker which Eugene forwarded to me, along with his usual careful notes. We are very grateful to Margaret for these. One is a little gem : a 1948 photo of the Mikado when it was staged at The Priory.

Page 126 : we have yet more pictures from Pat McHale taken during his time at St Columba's and Totteridge.
Pat is currently living in Guadeloupe and is a regular visitor to the site.
Thanks Pat for these — much appreciated. Can I have your new address so that I can return them ?

Pages 127 - 129 : another wonderful set of Ebby Bolan's watercolours.
Thank you Peter MacComiskey yet again for sending them over from Florida—and trusting that I wouldn't sell them on to a dealer in the meantime.

Page 130 : Robbie Dempsey has found some pictures of his GAP year etc, making me wonder why I didn't stay on just for the skiing.
Thanks ONCE MORE to Robbie.
(I'd be grateful if you wouldn't tell him that helping out is purely voluntary).

THERE'S A LOT MORE IN THE PIPELINE - THANK YOU, ALSO, TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL WAITING FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO APPEAR.

• 25th August 2003
The final chapter of "Planting the faith" is now ready ; go to Page 29 of the Histories section to read/download it.
I have re-jigged the layout so that it stretches across two pages instead of one. This should make access easier for 'dial-up' visitors.
At this point we must thank Robbie Dempsey for suggesting the project and providing me with a copy of the book. The story of the Martyrs of Uganda has been re-told many times—and deservedly so—but it never ceases to astonish and inspire, does it ?

And I must ask, is it "Blessed" Simeon Lourdel now (at least) or am I being naive?
• 23rd August 2003
Bernard Melling and Robbie Dempsey have already made substantial contributions to our website— and here they are again on Page 32 of the Histories section. Bernard sent me his write-up of the 1997 Dublin reunion and Robbie has found the script of "Simple Spyman" by John Chapman, which was performed by the students at Blacklion in 1967. (Extracts are reproduced for your entertainment and delight . . . )

Both of these items are illustrated with photos but it is hoped that the play, particularly, will remind some people that they also have some memorabilia that could be included on this Page.
• 17th August 2003
See Page 29 of the Histories section for the penultimate chapter of "Planting the Faith".

Also, the Quick Search facility has been amended to give more comprehensive / up-to-date results.
• 8th August 2003
The harrowing stories of the Martyrs of Uganda continues, on Page 29 of the Histories section.

• 7th August 2003
There is a small backlog of tributes to be processed. Today, Fr Gerry Taylor's life is celebrated on Page 6 of the Obituaries section, along with that of Fr John Morrissey, who died in May last year. Our thanks, as always, to the WFs at Sutton Coldfield for their permission to reprint items from the WF-WS magazine.

For newcomers: simply click on the OBITUARIES option and you will be given an index, from which you can select the tribute you wish to read.

ALSO : I have included an article written by Miss Thérese Donnelly about the WF Parents and Friends Association (Scotland). At present, it is just a link within Fr Chris Wallbank's article celebrating the Golden Jubilee of Rutherglen. (See Page 30 of the Histories section).

I hope to give the work of the Association much greater prominence soon. (Long overdue)

• 6th August 2003
If you knew Sister St Patrick you will want to read a tribute to her in the Obituaries section. (Page 4 - if you want to go directly to it).

ALSO have a look at the new facility for seaching our website.

GOOGLE, which is surely the best search engine on the interenet, now offer a free facility for searching a specific website (or the rest of the internet ,as well, if you wish).

Adopting this facility will save Morgan of StudioBlip a lot of work - and the search that it performs will also be completely up-to-date. It only remains to say THANK YOU MORGAN for all your good efforts.
• 2nd August 2003
Chapter 8 of "Planting The Faith" is ready on Page 29 of the Histories section, though it makes painful reading. Stories like this are very inspiring, of course, but they leave me wondering how brave/clever/composed I would have been in that situation.
• 1st August 2003
Pages 123 & 124 of the Gallery now displays some more pictures that were sent to me by Eugene.
(Where does he get these from?)

Three points about the Gallery :

a) one day I will provide you with an Index again. The previous one supplied for Pages 1 - 50 needed amending and now we have a great deal more photos to record.

b) I have restricted the number of photos displayed on Page 124 because I am probably making life a bit difficult for people with a dial-up connection. Having said that, broadband prices are about to tumble and I'm hoping that people will ditch their sky satellites and upgrade their internet connections asap !

c) I have a large backlog of material in the pipeline, for which I am very grateful. There's some wonderful stuff to come and I'd like to thank all the contributors for their trust and trouble. I know I've said that before, but just look at the size of this website already, already. The support has been excellent — and I've never run out of material yet. (Thanks to a quick SOS to Danny O and Mike Ellis on one occcasion). However, I need to take it easy during the summer. So, it will be slow slow, quick quick slow for a bit.
• 30th July 2003
Page 31 of the Histories section is devoted to my old parish at Heston, Middlesex. I hope that you, too, will find it of interest. It includes photos of quite a lot of priests that you might have known - and, as a bonus, a photo of John Morton on the occasion of his First Holy Communion.

We should soon be getting visits from umpteen parishioners from Heston, therefore. Hopefully, the word will spread and a lot more photos and anecdotes will come our way.

• 25th July 2003
Chapter 7 of "Planting the Faith" is entitled "Back to Uganda" and is now displayed on Page 29 of the Histories section. Things are getting pretty scary for Fr Lourdel and his compadres, as Mwanga orders the execution of the Anglican Bishop, James Hannington.

You may have to hide behind the sofa when the next chapter is released next week, though.

In the background several things are taking shape. In particular, the material sent to me by Mrs Pamela Scanlon is gradually being processed and by the end of this week there will be many photos etc to show you of the WFs in their parish at Heston,Middlesex. This has had to be a priority because I have held onto the memorabilia for rather long—and it's also of particular interest to me. My brother John and I were once parishioners there—as was Adrian Lance, John Healy, John and Paul Tait.

Heston was the main London HQ for the White Fathers for many years, of course, so we got to meet a great deal of WFs during our time there (as you will see in the photos).

Did you notice that I jumped ship this week ? I tied the rudder down so that the website pointed out to sea and took the lifeboat to London for 6 days. Sorry about that, but nothing crashed. Next time I'll let you know.

• 15th July 2003
Chapter 6 of "Planting the Faith" is now ready — so see Page 29 of the Histories section for your bedtime/badtime reading. Illustrations are thin on the ground at the moment, but I am sure that I will gradually be able to find items that appropriately illustrate the text. In the meantime, it's an inspiring story of what was taking place over 120 years ago.

Someone who lives in the Caribbean (don't ell 'em your name Pike!) emailed to say that it was certainly better than the Archers. And he's right. Every step of the way is packed full of trials and tribulations, whereas in the Archers they tend to spin it out a bit. If I remember rightly, it took Shula over 18 months to have her baby.

I will try to return to my previous boast of publishing 1 chapter per week, so don't make any plans for a holiday this side of September.

(There's no-one out there, Paul. You're talking to yourself again).

• 13th July 2003
The Message Board and Guestbook have recently been temporarily closed down by the providers and the new versions have had certain options removed. Both facilities will eventually be replaced by ones that we 'own', i.e. specially produced and owned by us, not an outside provider. In the meantime, I have taken the precaution of 'archiving' all the messages and storing them safely in a 'Message Bank'. This can be accessed from the normal Message Board page. I have started the process of re-formatting them for ease of access and to make them more attractive. This will be an 'ongoing' activity (to use a phrase which I particularly dislike).

If it appeals to you, a facility for playing background music-while-you-view will be added (and can already be triggered, as you will see in the first few archived messages).

Yes, WE'RE BACK and ready to tackle the backlog of fascinating stuff that you have kindly sent me.

• 5thJune 2003
Michael Bolan's paintings are displayed on Pages 127 - 129 of the Gallery section (preceded by some empty pages which I have reserved for other photos. No comments have been added to the pictures yet because of time constraints.


• 4thJune 2003
Morgan of www.studioblip.com has completed the trial version of the new QuickSearch facility. It seems to work well, but if you find anomalies please let me know. Thank you for all the time you have freely given to this, Morgan.

Chapter 5 of "Planting the Faith" can now be viewed on Page 29 of the Histories section - but this week there are no illustrations. I wanted to present some better portrait photos of people such as Fr Livinhac etc but have had no response from official sources for such material so far. It's pity that the WFs photo archive is not digitised and available on the web. Can anyone help me with this please ?

Tony Smyth and Robbie Dempsey have sent me even more material (!), and I have 17 more of Michael Bolan's watercolours kindly lent to me by Peter McComiskey. I'll get this on to the website asap, but it may be a slow trickle because my next few weeks are going to be extremely busy.

Robbie sent me a webpage which you might like to look at before you disappear . Click here to view it.

• 1st June 2003
More of Tony Smyth's photo collection can be seen on Pages 121 and 122 of the Gallery section.

We are very much indebted to people such as Tony for their generous contributions to the site.
It is heartening to see that the number of those who donate material is increasing all the time. There was a time when I thought the source had dried up ! Danny O'Hagan and Mike Ellis came to rescue and since then the trickle has turned to a flood. Wundebar !


• 31st May 2003
Tony Smyth has supplied several very interesting items that further illustrate the article written by Fr Chris Wallbank on Page 30 of the Histories section (entitled "Golden Jubilee at Ruthglen"). One is particularly relevant to people who attended St Columba's between 1960 - 62 : a promotional leaflet that features many of the students of that time. Another little gem - thank you, Tony.


• 30th May 2003
Chapter 4 of "Planting the Faith" can now be viewed on Page 29 of the Histories section. The layout has been changed to improve visibility (I trust) and I would be grateful for your views on that. The illustrations are taken from various sources. This week's chapter includes a photo of the early missionaries taken from a book lent by Dr Mike Cooper, for example. (Thanks, Mike).

You'd be surprised at the amount of material that Google comes up with when you search on "Mtesa", as I did this week, when looking for a photogragh of this Uganda king. So, if you want some follow-up reading (!) there's a great deal of material written about this fascinating part of history.

It would be nice to pay a very special tribute to Brother Paddy on the website, so I'd be pleased to collect all the contributions that you can muster for this.

Repeat : Photos of Paddy currently on display can be found in the following Pages of the Gallery section : 8, 15, 28, 62, 85 He also features on Pages 1, 15, 16 & 25 of the Histories section?s well as the obituary that he wrote for Brother Aubert (Page 5)

Mrs Pamela Scanlon has sent me a large amount of material relating to the time when the WFs were running the parish at Heston, Middlesex. (Our Lady, Queen of Apostles church). John Morton and I will be correlating this and after further research will be publishing a small booklet to celebrate the thriving community that those White Father priests and brothers created over a period of 30 years. Adrian Lance, John Healy, John Morton, John and Paul Tait, John and Paul West were all parishioners at one time.

• 26th May 2003
The remaining photos in the Walter Perry collection are now displayed on Page 120 of the Gallery section


• 24th May 2003
Pat McHale has been following the progress of Fr Simeon Lourdel (Page 19 in the Histories section) and has emailed some impressions of the last days at Maison Carrée. These brief reflections will be of interest to a lot of readers, I am sure, so I have started an Appendix section for the book and included Pat's contribution there.

It's very encouraging to get feedback like this, so please send me any comments / additions that you may have to offer, as you come across names / events that spark off personal memories.

(As someone once said: " Pavlov ? That name rings a bell. ")

Some news : Brother Paddy may be looking at The Pelicans' website as we talk. He now has his own cd version of the site and the hospice have kindly offered to lend him a laptop and take him through the' family album'. Robbie Dempsey went to see him recently and found him in good spirits and certainly on the ball. They talked for ages about the old times and Paddy proved to have an excellent memory for people and places. Let's hope that the cd gives him a lot of pleasure. The address of the hospice is : Our Lady's Hospice, Harold's Cross, Dublin 6w, Ireland. Tel: ++353 1 406 8700

Don't forget that you, too, could have a copy of the 'website cd' when it becomes available in early June. It will be bang up-to-date and it will run faster than broadband— but you won't even need to be connected to the web to run it. More about this soon.


• 23rd May 2003
Chapter 3 of the life of Simeon Lourdel is now ready. (Page 29 of the Histories section)
Please do not ring me up to ask what happens in Chapter 4—be patient. Even I don't know yet what to make of the bunch of hieroglyphs that the scanner gives me each week. (And for those of you who have been asking, the exam is not until mid August).
Tony Smyth has an unbelievable bundle of things to send me soon : several adventures of Wopsy, Fr Howell's 'Leaves from a White Father's Diary', another text about Simeon Lourdel, photos of a fete at Rutherglen and 31 Weld Road (Birkdale).
I tell you, this St Jude works every time. Wonderful.

• 21st May 2003
Page 30 of the Histories section is now displaying Fr Chris Wallbank's article 'A Golden Jubilee in Rutherglen' from this month's WF/WS magazine. Many thanks to Chris and Fr Bill Turnbull for permission to do so. Question : have you any photos that I can use to illustrate this ? There must surely be a great deal of such material hiding somewhere, particularly as Rutherglen has been such a busy centre for so many years.

• 17th May 2003
Chapter 2 of the life of Simeon Lourdel is now ready and can be seen on Page 29 of the Histories section—along with a caveat from Nanny and the first of photos relating to the storyline. If you still have your eyesight, read it straight off the screen. If you've still got your marbles, download it and print it off for reading later.

• 16th May 2003
Page 119 of the Gallery section is now showing the first half of Walter Perry's pictures — much appreciated, too, Walter. The rest will follow asap.

Urgent appeal: Have you any copies of old magazines produced by the WFs themselves— from the 80's and back ? If so, would you lend them to me for a spell ? I'm concerned that old publications like these will disappear before we have a chance to record some of the highlights from yesteryear. Any copies of "Kisito", or "Wopsie", for example ? Thanks for any help you can give me with this.

• 12th May 2003
The index system for the Histories and the Gallery section have been 'streamlined' : in future a section will only have an index/menu on its 'front' page. I hope that this will seem more logical after a while. (Makes life simpler for me !)


• 10th May 2003
A new publication is in the making : Chapter 1 of "Planting the Faith In Darkest Africa, The Life Story of Fr Simeon Lourdel" is available for reading/downloading on Page 29 of the Histories section. A fresh chapter will be added each week, as I patiently follow the silvery trail of the transcription process—and hopefully will be available on cd and in text form in the summer.

It's THANK YOU to Robbie Dempsey (once again!) for getting hold of the book and donating it.

Within the next few days, Maurice Billingsley's magnum opus "A School for Apostles" is about to have a few amendments/updates made (undetectable anomalies that only Maurice has noticed). This is another piece of excellent writing which should be downloaded and read as your next Book of The Week (after you've read Chapter 1 of Simeon Lourdel's life, of course).

Walter Perry has lent 20+ photos to Eugene, who has passed them on to me with details of nearly all the 'faces' that are featured. (Hard work, if you've ever tried it). Thanks to Walter and Eugene for this. And on his return from Rome, Pat Menzies will be sending some photos from a slightly earlier period, which has not been very well covered so far. So, there are quite a few photographics treats to look forward to in the coming weeks.

A cd 'snapshot' of the website will be made in time for the Bishop Waltham reunion (June 7th & 8th). This will contain every item up until that date and will not require an internet connection to play it. (Just a browser, such as Internet Explorer). So everything you want to view will download in seconds.

I would like to use this as a means of raising funds for Zambia and hope that people will think £5 is a fair contribution to make.
(Details will be posted in the APPEALS section soon).


• 9th May 2003
Go to the Student Listings Appendix to see The Priory Student Listing sorted in YEAR GROUP order— as promised.

Please report any glitches that may have occurred during the move to a new computer. (email me)

• 6th May 2003
John Prior has produced a very useful spreadsheet from the website's St Columba's file. This has enabled an alternative student record to be created. It is now possible to view not only the original alphabetical list but also one which is sorted into Year Groups. This is a very useful format for helping people to fill in those 'memory gaps'. Sincere thanks to John for this help.

Hopefully, The Priory records will soon be displayed in a similar fashion.

The APPENDICES — that 'newish' group of extra facilities that has been available lately — is undergoing a re-vamp. Ignore them at your peril because these 5 sections are the source of some very useful background information (as the Listings section has proved already).

So, keep an eye on the way the Appendices are growing because a lot of development is taking place there. Have you looked at the LINKS section lately, for example ? Did you know that it gives you 'instant access' to dozens of daily newspapers, for example ? (Just one of many related websites that you can click on). And have you seen the way in which the PUBLICATIONS list is gradually expanding into quite a substantial resource?

• 2nd May 2003
There is a new entry Page 5 of the Obituaries section
— a very brief resumé of the life of Andrew Murphy who died in June 2001

If you were a friend and contemporary of Andrew's you may wish to contribute
additional words, information, photos or condolences for inclusion
If so, email me
• 1st May 2003
Michael Goodstadt's extensive photo collection is now completed
and can be viewed on Page 110 — 118of the Gallery

COMING SOON

Morgan at StudioBlip is currently working on an enhanced version of the Quick Search facility
that he created for the website before it moved to its new 'broadband' base
(The pevious version cannot function at present)

* Send your thanks to Morgan at morgy@studioblip.com for this contribution to our site

• 23rd April 2003
Bill Hart sent us a batch of photos from his days at St Columba's
— which are now displayed on Page 109 of the Gallery section

&

Michael Goodstadt's cd of pictures will be appearing next

• 20th April
The remaining photos from Anthony Whelan's collection
are now displayed on Pages 17 & 108 of the GALLERY section.
Anthony submitteded over 70 photos for the website site and we owe him a debt of gratitude —
along with all those other people who have made large and smaller contributions in the past.

&

There's a new entry in PASSITON: broadband for the uninitiated (see Welcome page)


• 17th April
The Obituaries menu has been improved
and a new appreciation of the life of Archbishop Arthur Hughes included
(well worth reading - a very gifted man with a personality to match)

• 16th April
More of Anthony Whelan's photos are now on display
See Pages 106 + 107 of the GALLERY section
(Even more to follow)

• 14th April
The confidential email list is now updated
and includes addresses and telephone numbers
from Eugene's latest "Piorum Nomina Pelicanorum"
Can't find it ? Email me with your passport details /DNA sample

• 9th April
There will now be a short intermission while the manager
takes to his bed to recover from the 'flu

• 5th April Peter Finn has compiled a complete list of
everyone who attended the Junior Seminary in Scotland
(St Columba's, Danby Hall & Ratho)
and is now displayed in THE STUDENT LISTINGS SECTION
Thank you, Peter, for all the hard effort involved in getting this together

• 30th March See Page 14 of the Histories section for an up-to-date
colour photo of Danby Hall sent in by Michael Gallagher, for which many thanks

• More photos from Anthony Whelan can be seen
on Page 104 of the Gallery section (and there are many more to come ! )

• Another outstanding contribution to our website:
Michael Goodstadt has contributed a carefully prepared CD
of dozens of photos from the period 1951 -1960
(To be displayed asap)

• It's now even easier to get hold of a copy of the 'Fr Bouniol CD' from Robbie Dempsey
Just send a ONE LINE EMAIL requesting it, along with your postal address, to: rdempsey@tcd.ie


• Streamlining : the Gallery's menu system will gradually
be made simpler, with just a link back to the main (Gallery) menu

• Broadband : if you are debating whether to upgrade to this far superior internet service
now that prices are dropping, why not visit http://www.adslguide.org.uk
for an independent review of what's available ?

• 21st March Have you had a look at the Publications / Links section lately ?
Some new website addresses might be of interest to you

• 21st March ALSO Keep an eye on the Gallery for more pictures from the Anthony Whelan archives

• 17th March An appreciation of the life of Fr Tom Rathe WF
has been added to Page 2 of the Obituaries section

• 16th Marcha large collection of photos from Anthony Whelan is currently being processed
and can be viewed at Page 101 onwards (a.s.a.p.)

• 13th March 2003
An electronic version of an excellent study by Maurice Billingsley
is now ready for you to read or download.
Read all about it in the Publications section.

• And have you had a good look at the LINKS that are provided in this section ?
There are some very useful websites listed which you might wish to investigate.

RECORD OF PREVIOUS UPDATES
(Prior to March 2003)

  1. A list of mail addresses
  2. The penny-a-click donation system
  3. Fresh Material in the HISTORIES section
  4. Death of Fr Alex Easton
  5. Additions to the News, Obituaries and Gallery sections (as at 28th April 2001)
  6. The Bishop's Waltham Reunion
  7. July 30th 2001
  8. August 14th 2001
  9. August 17th 2001
  10. August 18th 2001
  11. 12th March 2002
  12. 16th March 2002
  13. 26th March 2002
  14. September 3rd 2002
  15. October 6th 2003 - everything since Sept 3rd
  16. January 6th 2003
  17. January 23rd 2003
  18. March 3rd 2003
  1. An up-to-date list of all known email addresses that might be of interest to you - available to people who email me. (Not printed here, to avoid misuse of personal information).

    Are you able to add to this list so that we can help more people to contact their old friends?
    Don't forget to look in the CONTACTS section to see if any new names have been added recently.

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  2. The penny-a-click system of fundraising started on February 1st 2000 — when the counter on the welcome page was 400. Every time anyone enters the site all registered sponsors will pay one penny towards the Pelicans' Fund for Africa.

    Would you like to become a sponsor? It's not likely to cost you more than £10 in a whole year! (Which represents 1,000 visitors to the site, of course).

    We have got 8 volunteers so far:
    Derek Biewer
    Peter Finn
    Charlie McCarthy
    Tom Mackle
    Bernard Melling
    Perfect Pictures
    Paradime Client Services
    Susanne Lamb (née Scott)
    Paul West     . . . . and we need dozens of donors to make it work as an effective fundraiser.

    Click on the APPEALS section for more details.

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  3. The HISTORIES section is being re-organised so that it is easier for me to expand and quicker, for you, to access.
    A lot of fresh material is currently being prepared for this section, so it is worth keeping a look-out for items that you might not have seen.

    For example
    a) Susanne Lamb (née Scott) writes of her early childhood days at Broome Hall in the early 60's, when her mother was the resident Cook.

    b) Anne Therése Scott-Abbott (Susanne's younger sister) has sent us some wonderful photos from her family album, taken at Broome Hall when she lived there as a child. (See Page 31 of the GALLERY section)

    c) Charlie McCarthy (Broome Hall 1948—53) has sent us an extract from the autobiography of the late Oliver Reed, who bought Broome Hall from the White Fathers.

    d) David Walker has emailed us from Berlin with some very clear memories of his time at St Columba's in '59 and later at The Priory.

    All fascinating stuff which will stir the pot for many a visitor, I'm sure.

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  4. Charlie McCarthy writes: " . . . have just heard from Peter Finn that Alex Easton (Fr) has died - so sad to hear it - was a classmate of mine at Broome Hall '48 -'50 - may the Lord give him a gracious welcome home!"

    According to Peter Finn's database, Alex originally came from Glenboig and the other details recorded are: The Priory 1944 - 49; St Bonafatius's Heerenberg, Netherlands, 1951 - 56.


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  5. Eugene's Newsletter No. 35 is now included the NEWS section and two tributes to Alex Easton (plus photos) are on Page 1 of the OBITUARIES section. Pages 21 — 32 of the GALLERY are gradually filling up with some excellent contributions from Susanne, Anne-Thérese, Paula and Eugene (so far) - for which, many grateful thanks. Also, on Page 9 of the Histories section, there is an extract from the late Fr Kevin Wiseman's account of how he was prepared for execution by the Gestapo. (Plus an item about the WF parish church at Heston).

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  6. The Bishop's Waltham Reunion is covered in Eugene's Newsletter 36 — see the NEWS section.

    This is the first Newsletter to be emailed to those who are 'online'. (Will we be able to keep up with this man?) Obviously it makes sense to send it out in this way because it's faster and saves on postage. So please make sure that we also have your email address.

    Eugene will continue to post the Newsletters to those who can't be emailed, of course.

    This is a rather busy period for me at the moment and I am unable to spend much time adding new items to the website.
    Please bear with this. Normal service will be resumed shortly. There are lots of fascinating bits and pieces waiting in the wings and I can't wait to get cracking on them. 16/06/01
  7. July 30th 2001
    Thank you for waiting patiently for the website to be updated. I'm afraid that I couldn't resist working in the garden last week because the weather was so nice. As a consequence I am a week later than promised. Sorry. It won't happen again . . .

    Donation Period 1 for the penny-a-click system of fundraising ended June 30th 2001 and the 'clock' re-started at 1100. Those who kindly volunteered to be sponsors for Period 1 owe £7.00 (1100 - 400 = 700p = £7.00). Many thanks to these donors, once again.

    The money, which goes towards the Pelicans Fund for Africa, should be sent to Pat Gibbons, our Treasurer:
    84 Albert Road West, Bolton, Lancs BL1 5ED (tel: 01204 842 525).

    Question: would YOU be willing to be a sponsor for Donation Period 2?

    Maurice Billingsley attended John Strain's ordination at Guildford - an account of which can be read in the NEWS section.

    Michael Byrne sent us more photos from the Bishop's Waltham reunion in June - again, look at Eugen's latest Newsletter in the NEWS section. Thank you Michael. Bernard Melling and Eugene have also sent in photos and these will be added soon.

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  8. August 14th 2001
    • Thanks to Bernard Melling and Eugene, we now have more pictures of the Bishop's Waltham reunion — in the NEWS section, along with clips from the video of the Mass and interment service for John Burdett Clark.

    You will find that the NEWS section is gradually being re-vamped to take account of the extra pictures that are illustrating Eugene's Newsletters. In future, each 'encyclical' that Eugene writes will be given a page of its own. This will cut down the time that it takes to load the item. However, you must expect Newsletters to be slow to download because of the number of photos involved.

    This won't be a problem, of course, when BT start to provide us with an affordable and fast 'broadband' service.
    (As I wrote that, a pig fell past my window with a thump).

    • At long last, Brother Modeste's obituary (on Page 2 of this section) now includes two photos of him, thanks to Eugene.

    • Also, Kevin Wiseman's picture appears in his account of his wartime imprisonment — on Page 9 of the H ISTORIES section.
    Kevin's obituary will appear soon.

    • More apologies if progress seems very slow. I took a trip to Austria last week without telling anyone. Sorry.

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  9. August 17th 2001
    • Kevin Wiseman's obituary can now be read on Page 5 of the OBITUARIES section.

    • Peter Collyer has sent us some fascinating photos of his time with the White fathers, starting in the late forties. These stretch over Pages 35 to 38 of the GALLERY Section. Peter's email address is included.

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  10. August 18th 2001
    • Robbie Demspsey     kindly emailed photos from the 60's, including a 1964 group photo from the Priory and a 1968 group at Blacklion. These can be seen on Pages 39 & 40 of the GALLERY section - and Robbie's email address is included.

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  11. 12th March 2002
    •Various updates have been made to the details attached to photos in the Gallery (from details supplied by people such as Chris Benton, Michael Gallagher and Mike Byrne). Also, many photos of forgotten moments have been contributed to this section by Tony Smith and Pat Gritton. The Gallery is now organised into 2 parts - with 50 pages in each - in order to make it more manageable for both you and me. Work on a basic Index for Part 1 has also been undertaken.

    You will also find extra entries in the Newsletter section - Eugene's Newsletters, of course, with some interesting up-to-date photos of Dryburgh Abbey and its environs from Chris Benton in Newsletter 39 - and In the 'Other News' section there are further contributions from Maurice Billingsley (one with a photo of a procession in Canterbury which you ought to look at), along with details of Peter Finn's newly-published "History of The Priory".

    I have been sent a lot of material from people such as Pat Gritton, Eugene MacBride, Michael Gallagher, Mike Byrne and others which I hope to use for future articles in the Histories section etc. (Grateful thanks to these people, and to those others whomI have forgotten to mention).

    I apologise for not being being very efficient of late. Work and domestic commitments have left little time to be as systematic as I intended to be. However, the website continues to be a priority of mine and although it has been a little neglected of late I have no intention of letting the moss gather for much longer.

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  12. 16th March 2002
    Donation Period 3 for the penny-a-click system of fundraising starts when the counter reaches 2000. (In time for Easter?)
    Donation Period 2 will therefore cost sponsors £9 - for something like a 9-month stint. Money should be sent directly to Pat Gibbons, our Treasurer. If you have not joined our list of sponsors yet, why not think about it? A whole year will set you back about £12.00 and the money will be going to people who, like many Zambians, can only afford to eat every other day.
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  13. 26th March 2002
    You may have noticed that the counter has suddenly zipped up to 4000+ !! It is not clear as to why this has happened - either we have had a TREMENDOUS upsurge in visitors to the site OR someone has been playing silly beggars. It has made a nonsense of the penny-a-click system, however, and I'd like your views on how to proceed with this.

    John Morton lent me a biography of Bishop Francis Walsh DD WF, a central figure in the development of St Columba's (and much more, of course). Many of us have good reason to grateful to this man: both John and I first met him at Heston, where he was a hardworking, generous parish priest who helped both our families a great deal.

    I have now 'computerised' the document and have made it available for all to read on Page 10 of the HISTORIES section.

    Even if you didn't know Fr / Bishop Walsh, you will find it a most interesting account of the early days up in Scotland.

    On Page 11 of the HISTORIES section you will now find A HISTORY OF THE WHITE FATHERS IN SCOTLAND. This is attributed to the late Father Leonard Marchant. A type-written copy was given to me by Chris Benton. As you may know, it has been available as a booklet for some time now (for a small charge to cover costs).

    You might like to get your browser to print off a copy of Page 10 and 11 - they are rather lengthy documents to read from a screen.

    Thanks to several people we are now up to Page 60 in the GALLERY. I'm sure that there is another 60 pages' worth of photos still out there. Know anyone who is able to help?
  14. 3rd September 2002

    a) Sorry about the lull - life took over and there was little time to spare except for feelings of guilt. (I've got a Grade A in that). However, we're up to Page 73 of the Gallery now and there are currently more photos in the pipeline. Sincere thanks to all the contributors.

    b) I have decided that I will continue to add and amend new material for as long as people send it to me (and my sell-by date runs out) BUT, in general, I will not remove material that looks a bit old to those of you who have visited the site often. We are still getting lots of new contacts and items such as old Newsletters and Appeals are of real interest to them and provide useful background for newcomers - just as back copies of Eugene's Newsletters were to me when I first came across The Pelicans.

    c) Robbie Dempsey is working on ideas to get all the old school magazines 'on line', but this is a lot of work and finding the best format isn't an easy one. (Yup, pdf files are being investigated).

    d) John Morton and I are looking into the history of the White Fathers at Heston, but I, personally, haven't been a very reliable partner in this of late. It's something we'd both like to do, having been brought up in the parish and very influenced by some of the big names (such as Fr Prentis and Fr Steve Collins).

    e) Jonathan Van Smit and I have managed to persuade the people at FriendsReunited to add sites for The Priory and St Columba's. They have officially stopped entering 'new' schools, as you may know. We've asked for these to be added in order to let more people know about the Pelicans and this website. So, if you keep an eye on www.friendsreunited.co.uk (and check St John's College, Southsea, too) you will see that a stream of 'new faces' are already appearing.

    I'd be grateful if you have any ideas about getting more publicity for our site, of course.

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  15. October 6th 2002

• New Photos from Mick Mearns and Robbie Dempsey on Page 73 of the Gallery

• New Photos from Gerry Hamilton on Pages 74 & 75 and changes to Pages 4, 12, 20 & 22

• St Columba's, The Priory and St John's College are now registered on the www.friendsreunited.co.uk website

• Guess what's come on to the market? Your chance to buy a piece of nostalgia!



click here to enlarge

• Look up Page 12 of the History section to read about the 1965 Priory production of The Crucible
and news about the "Old Boys Association" that was functioning at the time

• More photos from Tony Smyth on Pages 76 & 77 of the Gallery (including some of Birkdale)
• New Photos from Paul Farrell on Page 78 of the Gallery

• Look up Page 12 of the Histories section for further articles: The performance of Twelfth Night at The Priory
and The Priory trip to Lourdes in 1964

• Page 13 of the Histories section now has 3 further articles taken from The Pelican 1964: A list of Sports' Record Holders for those of you who are still smoking and can't do metric and The Old Boys' Association in 1964 (plus ça change)

• Annabelle - a drive down Memory Lane

• Additions and amendments to the Obituaries section: there's a further (inspiring) obituary for Fr Alex Easton on Page 1 and 'Ted' Heath's write-up has been updated with a photo (same Page); aportrait photograph of Fr Herb Herrity has been added to his obituary on Page 2; an obituary for Adrian Hastings is awaiting permission from the author to print it; an obituary for Fr Dan Sherry now resides (at long last!) on Page 5
PLUS
a) Eugene's latest Newsletter can now be read in the NEWS section

b) Page 13 of the Histories section now includes articles by John Strain and the late Sean Hughes

c) John Fowles is currently over here visiting old friends and hopes to collect some photos for the website

• New material has been added to the Gallery:

a) Page 79 - a statue and a card to jog your memory (from Derek Biewer & Eugene)

b) Page 80 - an aerial view of the Priory and other photos from Eugene

c) Page 81 - VIPs, jubilees, bell-ringers and Bud

• Grateful thanks are due to Michael Gallagher who has emailed an interesting range of photos, which include
several pictures of Danby Hall:

• See Page 14 of the Histories section for photos of Danby Hall and more of the fire at St Columba's

• See Page 82 of the Gallery for photos which include the production of a Passion Play

AND

• Peter Finn has given us his Priory Student database! - See Page 15 of the Histories Section


• See Page 83 of the Gallery for the last of Bernard Mellings' photos

• Pages 85 to 88 of the Gallery for the Priory group photo of 1935—36

• Page 16 of the Histories section for extracts from The Pelican, Christmas 1956 edition
- which includes some interesting insights into what "The Old Boys" were up to in those days

• An obituary for Brother Aubert, written by Brother Paddy, in Page 5 of the Obituaries section

• Obituaries for Bill Mathews and Fr Henry Moreton have been added to Page 5 of the Obituaries section
•
Pages 17 and 18 of the Histories section are now completed

• Page 84 of the Gallery is now ready (which means that Pages 1 - 89 are completed)

• Pages 19 and 20 of the Histories section are also available
(so the first phase of the Histories section comes to an end)


• There are two more entries in the PASS IT ON section, one of which shows you how to use a key word or phrase
to search this website for items of interest. (See the Welcome Page)

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January 6th 2003

•New items for the Gallery section:

• Page 89: John Mattock has sent us some very interesting photos and items of memorabilia

• A large batch of Photos from Peter McComisky can be seen on Pages 90 - 94
plus

• 10 watercolours painted by the late Michael Bolan (Ebby) are displayed on Pages 96 & 97 of the Gallery (lent to us by Peter)

• Two pages of photos taken when John Fowles was on holiday in the UK this Autumn

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23rd January 2003

• New items for the Histories section:

• Pages 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 have now been completed
and (mostly) contain articles from various editions of The Pelican magazine
kindly lent to us by Mike Byrne, William Hart & Anthony McCaffrey

Note: Page 27 of the Histories section includes material taken from The Columban magazine
(1952 & 1953)

&

Page 100 of the Gallery is now complete using material from a Pelican magazine lent by Bill Hart
(who, like Mike, Tony and others, provided many of these publications)

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3rd March 2003

• All of Michael Ellis' little gems are now on the website: see Pages 12, 20, 24, 26, 27, 29 & 38 of the Gallery — a great collection of pictures which records an important period of life at St Columba's in the early 60's

• Chris Campbell has identified dozens of faces that appear in the Gallery, relating to Priory Group photos 1961/2

• Michael Gallagher has recalled a lot of names from the early sixties for the STUDENT LISTINGS section (now displayed)

• The PUBLICATIONS & LINKS section has opened in time for the launch of a new CD from Robbie Dempsey

• And there's a new entry in the APPEALS section related to this CD


• Eugene's latest Newsletter is now displayed in the NEWS section

• The last of Danny O'Hagan's batch of photos have been added to the Gallery
 To view them, see Pages 2, 17, and 67 (for the latest)

• The new SEARCH facility is ready for a test drive - with thanks to Morgan West

• Page 2 of the GALLERY now has 2 more photos

• Two new features available : a) ' Student listings etc ' and ' Previous Old Boys' Associations' , both accessible from the Welcome Page menu

• See Page 17 and 59 of the Gallery for some recent additions

• The Contacts sectionhas been updated and re-formatted and includes an up-to-date list of email addresses
(access via a security system only)

• John Morton has written an appreciation of his friend and brother-in-law Michael 'Ebby' Bolan — see Page 2 of the Obituaries section

• A photo of Annabelle's brother / cousin has been added to Page 52 of the Gallery section — for all the trainspotters amongst us

• A new COUNTER system has been provided free of charge by BraveNet — for which, many thanks. (The clock has been re-started at the point where the previous providers ended their service).

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Return to Welcome Page


Watch this space for items that will added in future.