Reply Slip – please complete and return no later than 24th^th March 2018 to:  fcoga@btinternet.com   I will then send you the address to send a cheque in payment.

 

NAME..................................................................................................(nee..............................)

 

ADDRESS..................................................................................................................................

 

.....................................................................................................................................................

 

Email address (the Newsletter will be sent by e-mail if possible to save paper and postage)

 

.....................................................................................................................................................

 

Morning Coffee and Lunch £17.50.   

 

(Donations of stamps to help with the cost of postage would be appreciated).

 

 

 

MENU for SUNDAY LUNCH at THE GOLF CLUB, FILEY

 

Please circle your choice of starter, main course and pudding

 

 

Starter

 

Melon Fan with Port                           Leek & Potato Soup                             Egg & Prawn Salad             

 

*******************************

 

Main Course

Roast Topside of Beef                    Baked Ham with                       Salmon with                    Mushroom Strogonof

with Yorkshire Pudding            Honey & Mustard Sauce                Dill Cream           

                                                                                                                                                                          

(All served with fresh vegetables)

 

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Pudding

Baked Apple with Custard             Crême Caramel                     Raspberry Pavlova

 

Followed by tea or coffee

                                                   .........................................................................................................

 

As we need to book a table at Bella Italia on Saturday evening, please say whether you are able to join us:     (please circle appropriate answer)

 

I will     /      will not         join you for a meal at 7pm on Saturday evening at Bella Italia.               

       

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How to find Filey Golf Club - Please cut off these directions from your reply if you will need to refer to them when you attend the Re-union.

From the Evron Centre in John Street, drive to the end of John Street (which is one-way), turn right into Belle Vue Street then left at the junction into West Avenue.  At the very end of West Avenue,  past the Glen Gardens on your left,  drive up the private road to the Golf Club.  The Visitors’ car park is the one on the left side through the entrance, there is disabled parking in the Members’ car park which is on the right through the entrance, and there is a lift to the Restaurant. 

If you have satnav, the postcode is:  YO14 9BQ.

FILEY CONVENT OLD GIRLS’ ASSOCIATION

www.theoldgirlsoffileyconventschool.blogspot.co.uk

www.fileyconventoldgirls.blogspot.co.uk

 email for replies:  fcoga@btinternet.com

Dear Old Girl   

On behalf of the Committee, I am pleased to invite you to the Old Girls’ Annual Re-union, which as always takes place the weekend after Easter, over the weekend of 7th/8th April, 2018.

We have again booked at the Filey Golf Club for lunch. Directions how to get to the Golf Club are at the bottom of the reply sheet for anyone who hasn’t been before; there is plenty of parking space and a lift at the Club for anyone who finds stairs difficult.  It would be appreciated if car drivers with a spare seat could offer a lift from the Evron Centre to the Golf Club to anyone without a car.  Please note that there are no parking spaces at the Evron Centre, but plenty of on-street parking nearby.

It makes it easier if we can pre-book our choices from the menu. Please circle your preferred choice for each of the three courses on the reply slip.  I will keep a record of your request and make place names to remind you on the day.  The cost will be the same as last year, £17.50 for the three courses with tea or coffee, and includes hire of the Evron Centre and morning coffee.

We would also like to invite you to join us at the Bella Italia Ristorante, Mitford Street, Filey on Saturday evening at 7.00 pm for an informal meal.  This is a family run Italian restaurant and there is a good choice of menu - please let me know on the reply slip enclosed if you wish to join us.   

The programme for the weekend will take the usual format:

Saturday evening      6.00 pm.         Mass at St Mary’s Church                   

                                  7.00 pm          Informal get together at Bella Italia Ristorante.

Sunday           From 10.00 am         Coffee / tea served at The Evron Centre;

                                 10.30am          Mass at St Mary’s Church         

                                 10.30 am         Holy Communion at St Oswald’s Church

                                 11.45 am         AGM and news of the Sisters at The Evron Centre

                                   1.45 pm.        Lunch at Filey Golf Club

It would be appreciated if you could reply by email by 24^th March 2018 to fcoga@btinternet.com

Although the Reunion invitations are sent to members by post, we do try to send out as many Newsletters as possible by email in order to save on postage, so if you have an email address, please put that on the reply slip so that I can update the address database.  The Newsletter which goes out after the Reunion is also published on our blogs (see the addresses at the top of this letter and have a look at the photographs and news on the blogs).     Whether you can attend the Re-union or not, if you have any news for the Newsletter, please enclose it with your reply – we’re always pleased to hear from you!

We do hope that you will be able to come to the Re-union – look forward to seeing you and hope that Filey is blessed with sunshine that weekend.  Incidentally, did you realise that it’s 50 years this year since the school closed in 1968 – who would have thought the Old Girls would still be meeting there 50 years later?  Quite an achievement!

Yours sincerely,       Ann Reed (nee Baxter)    (on behalf of the Committee)

Newsletter 2017

 

NEWSLETTER 2017

36 members attended the 2017 Re-union:  Sister Anne Marie Crowley, Tessa Harrison (Reeves), Jean Tennant (Atkin), Rona McKechnie (Penrose), Susan Lynch (Jagger), Anne French (Nicholls), Jacinta Dudding (Speight), Jean McGill (Lewington), Margaret Devonshire, Sue Skitt (Ross), Angela Normandale (Hawkswell), Christine Hayes (Scott), Paula Boyes (Kilner), Marilyn Douglas (Crossfield), Jane Cockerill (Leather), Mary Outhwaite (Maplesden), Sheila Jenkinson, Barbara Hudghton (Marshall), Ann Reed (Baxter), Jenny Toogood (Holt), Rosie Palmer (Holt), Pauline Randall (Holt), Sue Christie (Wood), Susan Cowburn (Read), Marjorie Hawkins (Marshall), Christine Whitehead (Wilkes), Sandra Lee (Scruton), Pat Smithson (Hutchcroft), Pat Richardson (Flather), Margaret Good (Hood), Val Lakin (Johnstone), Liz Greenwell (Wilkes), Pam Shaw Johnston (Shaw), Judith Atkinson (Botterill), Liz Fenby (Dyson), Johanna Albin.  We were also pleased to welcome Sue Skitt’s daughter, Lauren, and Jean Tennant’s friend, Pat.

The following people were unable to be at the Reunion but sent their best wishes:  Ruth Simpson (Atkinson) Sheila Pearce (Allan);  Susan Richardson;  Clare Smith;  June Marriott (Lovell);  Lynda Perkins (Smith);  Pam Barrett (Heath);  Anne Geraghty (Moore);  Valerie Swallow (Steer);  Elaine Andrews (Akroyd);  Pat Collier;  Charlotte Gledhill (Link);  Monica Richardson;  Josephine Goss (Hutchinson);

Mary Norman (Beardsley) would have loved to be with us but she says as she lives in the Isles of Scilly it is just too difficult and expensive to get to Filey.  It’s Mary’s youngest daughter’s Silver Wedding in July and the family are all meeting up in St Mawes, which is a lot easier to get to without too much trouble. For the third year running she went to Barbados for Christmas and New Year which, Mary says, was such fun.  ‘Father Christmas comes on his motor bike – all dressed up properly in the proper outfit, which must be terribly hot while we await him in flimsy sarongs’.  She hopes we have a wonderful weekend meeting with all the ‘Old Girls’, will think of us all, and says she does look at her photographs sometimes for a bit of nostalgia.

From Greer Montgomery:  ‘Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this annual event. I hope you all have a great time and the Old Girls are enjoying life and having plenty of fun. Wishing you a great weekend.’

From Val Hewins (nee Mortimer)  ‘Sorry I will be unable to attend, as I have already booked golf at Breadsall Priory;  I will be thinking of you all.’ 

From Sheila Lupton (Plews):  ‘Just to let you know I will not be attending the re-union once again.  I am expecting to move house at any time within the next fortnight.  Please give my apologies and my regards to anyone who remembers me way back between 1945 and 1949.  At the moment I am staying with my son which so far has been for 3 months.  The downsize has appeared to take forever having sold my house very quickly.’

Jennifer Carr (nee Stockdill) wrote:   ‘Thank you for sending me the Re-union invitation, I left it as late as I could to reply, in case I could make it. But as usual it is near my husband’s birthday (actually the 23rd) so we now have plans for that weekend.  I do hope you all have a lovely weekend and look forward to receiving the news letter in due course.’

Sally Brown (nee Wilson) wrote:  ‘Sadly I think that I will have to miss the Re-union this year, I have my two young Grandchildren on the Thursday and Friday before the weekend, followed by a meeting up at Scotch Corner on the Saturday rushing back for my Granddaughter’s birthday tea, so by Sunday I think that a one hundred and twenty mile round trip to Filey will be tiring especially as I have the Grandchildren on the Monday due to a teachers training day.  I do hope that you all have a lovely time and send my best wishes to all who remember me.’

Dawn Fixter (Howell) wrote:  ‘Just a quickie to wish you a "Happy Reunion" at the week-end.  I hope that the sun keeps shining even if it is very cold !’  Dawn said that she had hoped to pop in to see everyone but unfortunately she would not be able to come as the Chemotherapy she is undergoing is taking up all her time these days and several side effects have now taken hold.  Best wishes, Dawn, from all your friends, and many thanks for your persistence and hard work in finding out how to set up the blog and post things on the internet for us.

Sister Monica regrets not being able to come to the Reunion;  she hopes all goes well with the meetings and meal, and says we will be in her thoughts and prayers, as we all are each day.  She is still living at Holywood House in Manchester, with Sister Angela and Sister Anne Marie and Sister Pauline, who all spent time in Filey.  She works now at the Alexian Brothers care house.  She sends her love to everyone.

Jennifer Simpson (Milner) is recovering from illness and is not able to join us;  she sends her best wishes for a good reunion.

Pauline Barber (Evans) is unable to attend;  she sends love to everyone she remembers.  Pauline was in the year with Sandra Scruton and Charlotte Link as a day pupil and travelled on the Bridlington bus with the likes of the Roden twins, Cherry and Paddy and Susan Hartley.  ‘Happy days’, she says!

I’m sorry to report that the following Old Girls have died.  Their names will be entered in the Book of Remembrance for deceased members, Sisters and teachers which is kept in St Mary’s Church, Filey, and Johanna Albin turns the pages each week and lights a candle;   Mass is also  said for them on the Sunday of the Re-union each year,   Theona Harrop (Edwards) died on 12^th May 2016;   Susan Aridor (Addis) died in September 2016;  Vivienne Carr (teacher) died on 18^th September 2016;   Sylvia Crowther died in September 2016; Patricia Haxby died in August 2016.   Molly Shepherd (Law) died on 9^th January 2017.  Molly’s daughter Mary wrote that Molly had been doing well, but over Christmas and New Year she became weaker and was refusing to eat.  She wasn’t in pain and died peacefully in the care home where she had been for two and a half years.  Her funeral took place on 23^rd January.  Mary said it was a pity she didn’t make it to 100.  Her ashes were scattered in the garden of St Mary’s Church, Filey.  Father Smith carried out a simple but lovely service. It was Molly’s wish to have her ashes scattered there, and shows how much her days in Filey meant to her.

Diana Freeborn (Majdalaney) can’t attend,  and hopes we all have a wonderful weekend, sends good wishes to the Sisters and anyone else who remembers her and looks forward to the newsletter.  Last August she fell backwards down an escalator in St Pancras Station.  It left her severely battered and bruised and traumatised, but she’s lived to tell the tale.  Diana says she keeps pretty busy and is very blessed in her friends.

Eunice Moore (Waring) wishes us all a wonderful time full of fun and very happy memories – she sends very best wishes to all and hopes the sun shines all weekend!

Sister Mary Angela is unable to be with us as she will be at home for her great-niece and nephew’s confirmation.  She hopes everything goes well and sends love to all.

Pam Jones (Winship) sent her best wishes and wrote:  “Thank you so much for the information about the next Old Girls’ Reunion.  I am afraid that I am just about at the end of these events.  I have just had a knee replacement but the main point is that on Easter Monday I shall be 90 years old.  That seems a long time since my first meeting as the Old Girls’ Secretary.  The knee operation has of course held me up but I do want to keep in touch with the Association!  I hope that all goes well for the weekend”.

Barbara Bateman (Bleasdale) was at school 1943-1949;  She wrote:  “It makes me shudder when I remember how many years the organisation has been going.  I managed to come in the early days and was there for the first reunion.  As time progressed doing my physiotherapy training in Bath – meeting my husband to be, marrying and having the family, Filey seemed to be a million miles away.  I certainly applaud those of you who have kept things going.  Who would have imagined in the late 40s that the Convent would have gone and all the Sisters left.  I do keep in contact with Pat Collier and Eunice Moore (Waring).  I was so sad to read in the last Newsletter of all those senior girls in my day that had passed on.  I am a ‘computer peasant’ and consequently still write and communicate with a pen – not quite a quill one!!  Have a wonderful reunion, lots of laughter and “do you remember” and the icing on the cake, lots of brilliant sunshine.”

Pamela Shaw Johnston (Shaw) sent the following notes for the Newsletter:  “The ‘FOGIES’ (myself, Judith Powell, Jacky Willis, Louise Pinkney, Pat Brown, Maureen Megginson and Lesley Percival) still meet regularly for lunch at each other’s homes.  In March we went to Edinburgh on a city break to celebrate our mutual 70^th birthdays.  It’s lovely to share such occasions with life-long friends!  On a personal front, my younger son, Simon, and I have appeared on two TV shows, yet to be “aired”.  The first, “Masterpiece” on Channel 4, and recently we were contestants on “Bargain Hunt” for BBC2.  It was great fun and a lovely experience, especially as I was able to share it with my son.  I still have my charity work and two voluntary jobs and in my ‘spare’ time I love singing, gardening and my camper van.”

Susan Leedham has been having health problems that affect her balance;  she has been in Hull Royal Infirmary several times and has spent several months in respite care in a Bridlington Care Home; Susan says she has improved ‘somewhat’ and hopes to be able to attend next year’s Reunion.  She sends good wishes to all in Filey.

Sandra Gardner (Mortimer) hopes we have a wonderful weekend.  She lost her husband last year and is not settled yet.  Her eldest son and family are coming to live at the farm and she is having a barn converted for her own accommodation.  Sandra hopes we have a wonderful weekend.

Pamela Stephenson (Temple)  has had to decide not to come this year, as since she broke her hip she is finding it difficult to walk any distance.  Luckily she can drive, but driving both ways on the day would be too exhausting.  Pam hopes that the weather is good for us – she loves Filey, but especially when the sun shines!

Bunty (Vera) Collicott (Jeffery) wrote from the Isle of Wight:  “It has been a very traumatic year for both my sister Wendy and myself, each of us having had falls.  Old age of course, but physio can work wonders!  Unfortunately I’ve outlived my school friends, but am still in contact with three of my old “Shipmates” from my Wren days.  Wendy, who had to finish in the Kindergarten when our family moved south in 1945, visited the Convent about 10 years ago when on holiday in the area with her late husband, and said the only part of the building inside which she remembered was the Gym!  Wendy and I will be thinking of you all on that particular weekend, wishing we were there in ‘our’ lovely garden, enjoying the view and basking in sunshine.  My garden is at present also very warm and sunny and a treat to look out on.  Have a lovely weekend and God bless you all.”

Rosalie Maddy (Askew) sent her good wishes and wrote:  “Unfortunately I am unable to attend.  I just wish I lived closer to Filey.  I envy those who do!  Please give my good wishes to everyone and I hope you have an enjoyable reunion with sunny weather.  Make the most of those views!  I have recently returned from Switzerland where my granddaughter had her first birthday.  She is beginning to respond to both Swiss German and English and repeating words in both languages.  My other grandchild, Louise’s little boy, is now 2 years old and very chatty.  We are very lucky to live just a few miles away.  I continue to be very busy with ecumenical commitments as Secretary of Churches Together in Porthcawl as well as taking services in the Bridgend Methodist/URC United area.  I am also still in the Cowbridge am dram.  My latest part was the old lady in J M Barrie’s ‘The Old Lady Shows Her Medals’, which we put on for the Royal British Legion last November.  For that part I had to adopt a Scottish accent – it took some doing especially as my own accent is a cross between Yorkshire and Welsh!”

Thanks to everyone who wrote and sent items for this Newsletter.

Reunion Report 2017

FILEY CONVENT OLD GIRLS ASSOCIATION

 

                                                                                                                                                              May 2017   

                                                                                                                               

e-mail:  fcoga@btinternet.com

                 

                                                                                                                                    

 

Dear 'Old Girl'

 It must have been the result of all your good wishes for a happy and sunny weekend because the sun did indeed shine for this year’s Re-union, and happy and sunny it was!  Filey put on its best face for us and we enjoyed the beautiful views over the bay, from the Brigg to Flamborough Head – just the same as that remembered with so much affection by generations of ‘Convent Girls’.  How lucky we were to spend our school days in such a lovely spot .

So – here is the report of the 68^th Reunion, held over the weekend of 22^nd/23^rd April 2017.  Eleven of us met at Bella Italia on the Saturday evening, and we were especially pleased to welcome three Old Girls who hadn’t been to a Reunion before, sisters  Pauline Randall (Holt), Rosie Palmer (Holt) and Jennifer Toogood (Holt).  It was an enjoyable (and as usual rather noisy) get-together, with plenty of ‘do you remembers’ and stories to tell. 

On Sunday morning Sister Anne Marie Crowley (President) and about 36 members met at the Evron Centre for coffee.  The AGM opened with the Hymn ‘Come Holy Ghost’ and Tessa Harrison (Reeves) (Chairman) welcomed everyone, with a special welcome to Sister Anne Marie and new members who have joined us for the first time.  Jane Cockerill (Leather) read the minutes of the AGM 2016, and Tessa thanked Jane for keeping the Minutes of the AGM and Committee meetings, as well as making a record of the News of the Sisters, which follows this letter.

Ann Reed (Baxter) (Secretary) gave the Secretary’s Report.  She thanked everyone who had replied to the Re-union invitation, sent stamps, donations and news for the Newsletter, and Marilyn Douglas (Crossfield) who generously keeps us supplied with stationery. 

 Ann said that Anne French (Nicholls) and her husband, Paul who had set up an internet blog for us  had gone to America for an extended holiday, and  Dawn Fixter (Howell) had kindly volunteered to take over in their absence - unfortunately there was some kind of glitch and she was unable to access and post anything on it, and finally set up another blog – so at the moment we have two sites on the internet.  I’m so sorry to tell you that Dawn is very ill and I have taken over updating the blog from her for the time being.  

 If you have access to a computer, please do have a look at the blogs, the addresses are at the top of this letter.  There are photographs, articles about the history of the Convent, a newsletter and photographs from the Sisters in Peru, and Reminiscences of an Ingenue, written by Theona Harrop (Edwards),  a fascinating account of  her time at the Convent in the 1930s/40s – a real walk down memory lane!  If you have any photographs which would be of interest to other Old Girls, you can email them direct to fcoga@btinternet.com or send copies to me and I’ll scan them for publishing on the website and return the originals to you.   If you are visiting Filey, you may like to call in at the Crimlisk Fisher Archive, housed at Filey Council Offices in Queen Street, where there are photographs and other memorabilia of the Convent.

 Pam Shaw Johnston (Shaw) reported that she is working with Phil Armitage, the Evron Centre Manager, to produce a collage, with photos of the school, nuns and former pupils along with a brief history of the building.  The collage will be placed in the entrance foyer of the Evron Centre.  It is a work in progress, and it’s hoped that it will be completed by 2019 – the 70^th anniversary of the Old Girls’ Association. Many visitors to the Evron Centre enquire about the history of the building before it was owned by the Council.   The commemorative plaque on the side of the building has recently been refurbished by Jane Cockerill’s husband, Michael, who was thanked for doing this.  It was suggested a second commemorative plaque be erected on the outside wall on the front of the building. If permission is granted by the Council the Committee will organize this.  At the end of the AGM Tessa placed flowers in the Grotto where the statue of Our Lady used to stand.

Susan Christie (Wood) gave the Treasurer’s Report – we started the year with £689.81 and after all the income and expenses for the year, we had a balance in the bank of £711.13.

Sister Anne Marie gave us news of the Sisters (see below), and the meeting was concluded.  We made our way to Filey Golf Club, where we enjoyed a very good lunch and continued with the main agenda for the day, catching up with old and new friends.

 A date for your diary: Next year’s Re-union will take place over the weekend of 7^th/8^th April 2018 (N.B. easy to remember – it’s always the weekend after Easter). 

I hope you enjoy catching up with the following news about the Sisters, and reading the Newsletter.

Best wishes,

ANN REED (Baxter)

Secretary

NEWS OF THE SISTERS

Sister Anne Marie Crowley said how wonderful it was to see everyone again and was pleased we kept going as Filey is the only place still having an Old Girls Association within the Order.  Sister went on to tell us about the nuns.

Sister Monica is not too well, she has difficulty walking and her memory is poor.

Sister Joseph and Sister Mary Angela sent their love and best wishes for a lovely weekend and sorry they could not be with us.

Sister Claire Kelly (Sister John whilst at Filey) is now the Congregation Leader (new name instead of Superior General).  She is in France at the present time overseeing a meeting.  Sister Claire was in Africa for the first time last year to oversee three novices make their vows.  Sister Claire said it was a very moving occasion taking place in the novices’ native village with all family and friends present.  The girls dressed up in their beautifully coloured costumes and jewellery and then they were presented to Sister Claire to ask for admittance to the order, once accepted they went away to take off their finery and put on a simple  white dress and headdress.  They then went round the villages singing and dancing in celebrations which took a whole week.

The African congregation is growing but no new novices in the UK.

There are two sisters in Peru, who have had a very bad time as the area has been subjected to severe mud flooding and volcanic eruptions.  Thankfully the sisters’ house escaped damage but many huts were washed away.  Sister Gloria (a Canadian nun) was badly affected by the flooding and found it a very bad experience as her house was destroyed.

All sisters in France are well but elderly; however, they busy themselves in writing to people in the missions.

Sister Claire was able to set up a skype link so the nuns in this country can see and speak to the nuns in France and Canada.

Sister Gertrude, used to manage a parish on the outskirts of Stockport, is now retired but still visits the elderly.

Sister Ann Marie O’Sullivan has slowed down but still does social work and Sister Theresa helps with cancer patients.

There is no longer a house in Ireland.  Life goes on for the UK nuns although at a slower pace but is still involved within the parish.

Reminiscences of an Ingenue

Reminiscences of an Ingénue - written by an Old Girl who was a pupil in the 1930s/1940s
I went as a boarder to the Convent of the Sacred Heart at the age of five.  My home was in York and several schools were considered but none was prepared to take on the full-time care of one so young.  The fact that the Sisters of Charity did so showed a compassion for which I am forever grateful.  The fact that they did so, perhaps with some trepidation, did not occur to me until many years later.....
Suffice it to say that as the “youngest girl in the school” I took full advantage of this connotation when the opportunity arose.  In fact I was, I believe, a remarkably placid and unquestioning child, much given to day-dreams, who snuggled like a kitten into the warm, gentle but all enveloping cotton-wool of the religious order.  And this was perhaps the immediate legacy of life in a religious education establishment.  It took many years to recognise my own identity – a distinct disadvantage in the post war years which had to be the “finishing school” in one’s education for life.
Certain it is that I enjoyed school:  heaven forbid that I would have admitted it!  I had the unique experience of knowing the Sisters in both term and holiday times.  Due to my home arrangements my father took advantage of the hospitality offered and I stayed on for an extra two weeks or so in the long summer holiday until I was transferred to the care of a holiday governess – a situation in unfavourable contrast to the heady freedom I enjoyed at school.  Certainly I went with some reluctance when invited to various friends for this time and once flatly refused – which must have caused some embarrassment!  What a transformation!  Meals appeared, bed-time was before dark but for the rest I met up with ‘day-girls’ and perhaps went to tea with them or just wandered at will – the studio, a haven in or out of term, was no longer out of bounds for most of the day.  Sister Florence, and later Sister Veronica, were my buddies.  The sea was safe.  The fishermen, sitting on the sea wall mending their nets, always ready for a profound discussion.  The swings were untenanted, the tennis courts available;  the delicious solitude and uninterrupted reading under the trees in the wood, the unlimited walks to the coble landing to gaze with awe and some compassion into the coal black eyes of Benny, the sea-lion, are jewels in the memory of my childhood.  The Sisters had on their ‘holiday’ faces, and the sun always shone.
In retrospect it is the insularity of the religious boarding school which predominates.  We were told what was considered good for us.  I recall when some glamourous film-star died in which was no doubt dubious circumstances there was some quite preposterous story concocted, with the best of intentions, that no sordid reality should be given prematurely – or possibly need to be explained!  Similarly our literature was strictly censured.  Comics were permitted but other even more innocuous reading matter was sometimes banned.  “Current” school stories were not allowed and yet there were some ancient Angela Brazil books in the library – perhaps thought too archaic for even us to emulate!  However, great was the rejoicing when a new cinema was opened in competition with the “flea-pit” and we conned our way into seeing Charles Boyer as Napoleon on the somewhat dubious grounds of historical verisimilitude.
The daily round was constant and simplicity itself.  Mass was attended from choice except on Sundays and Holy days.  On Fridays it was celebrated in the school chapel and the smell of candle grease and incense hung in the air on the first floor corridor;  on other days it was held in the church of St Mary five minutes’ walk through the town.  Our first call in the morning was at seven o’clock for those going to mass or wanting to catch up on homework; the second at seven forty-five.  Breakfast was at 8.15 and the British habit of queuing was soon insinuated into the psyche of the boarding school child – when I hear a bell I still look around for a line to join.......
In terms of today’s child we starved.  I do not however ever remember being hungry.  At one time porridge, bread and butter were the start of the day – marmite and marmalade provided from the tuck boxes – though on Sundays we had bacon and tomatoes. Later we were given the choice of Force or to provide our own cereal when the range became greater.  There was one very special custom.  Before a feast day such as Corpus Christi, which was always a holiday, we were offered a choice of bacon and eggs or coffee and French rolls.  The rolls came from Albins, the Swiss bakery in the town, and were delicious – as no patisserie has ever equalled.  We always chose rolls and coffee.  Some years later, when our beloved Sister Superior, Sister Therese, left, our new Superior introduced coffee and rolls on Sundays, but it was never the same.
Dinner was at 12.30.  The only meal I can recall, except for the inevitable Friday fish, was mince decorated with toast triangles.  I cannot believe that we had nothing else but it is perhaps significant that it is all I can remember!  Puddings were rather better except for those twin horrors of the institutional kitchen, sago and tapioca.  Rice became known as “smockie” after a never to be forgotten evening service in the chapel.  Mademoiselle, a floating vision in mauve georgette, French perfume and minor hysterics, rushed in screaming “Fire! Fire!”.  We trooped out with the well bred British phlegm and pounding hearts – the kitchen was in a blanket of smoke but to our intense disappointment there was not a flame in sight.  The next day was a double birthday and jellies had been put to set on a high shelf – they didn’t – and we had liquid delight for tea which was just as well as the acrid smoke had seeped into everything else and rice pudding was on the dinner menu.  A day-girl, with less to lose and therefore fewer inhibitions, happened to stay for dinner and after one mouthful and in a manner reminiscent of the guest of the Borgia’s, spoke thus into the horrified silence – “It’s smockie”.  On such are legends founded!
Tea was at 5 o’clock.  Bread and butter with “paste” or jam – cake only if the tuck box provided and which we shared with our table.  On Sunday we could chose either beans or spaghetti – again from the tuck-box – and fruit salad.  Supper was at 7.00 for the “little ones” and 8.00 for the seniors – a milk drink and biscuits.  Meal times were opportunities for exercises in restraint.  Sister Anais stood at the dining room door as, in single file; we bowed the head as we passed in.  After grace silence reigned until everyone had been served.  Permission to talk was then given – to be withdrawn if the decibels rose too high.  Mealtimes were thus not only occasions to sustain the body but situations exploited in the pursuit of social graces and deportment.  Spilling drinks for example was a foible – one was duly humiliated by reference to it and retribution such as helping to clear the dining room during the recreation time.  I once spilt a whole cup of tea.  After helping to remove the offending stain, I smugly remarked that the cloth looked cleaner than before....the wrath that descended was totally uncomprehended!  Food was to be eaten without any allowance for personal choice or even allergy.  Once a Senior with a congenital abhorrence of eggs dug her heels in.  We sat with bated breath whilst the battle of wills was fought – she must stay there until she ate them or – what?  We never found out  - she and the eggs had been removed by the next meal, but the climb down on either side can have been out of all proportion to the good such discipline can have made.
Our year, not surprisingly revolved around the ecclesiastical calendar.  The Marys and Magdelaine’s seemed to have a special aura on “their” day – I was particularly peeved that, so far, there was no St Theona.  Visiting Church dignitaries were viewed with appropriate awe.  One was a Canadian missionary – and my heart was bursting with love.  My secret joy knew no bounds when, instead of signing his name in my autograph book, he wrote a poem.
Special Feast Days were the milestones of our year and the most memorable of these was the “School” day – the Feast of the Sacred Heart, a day of freedom and rejoicing.  After Mass the day was ours.  We had ice-cream – heaven! – from Peacocks, the best I have ever –but ever – tasted.  The highlight of the day was tea in the Sisters’ refectory, a holy of holies.  The table was laden and part of the fun was to see which Sister’s “place” you were in.  We could swim, play in any part of the garden – and the sun always shone......
Corpus Christi was another highlight of the year.  A week before, mid-day and after school, we denuded the fields of the buttercup heads.  Sister Florence and later Sister Veronica drew and painted designs for the paths:  we each had our areas and we filled in the designs etched out on the paths with coloured sawdust, transforming them to the likeness of stained glass windows.  Buckets of flowers stood in the shade to transform the shelves which had been set up around the statues in the grounds into altars.  By two o’clock the youngest dozen or so children had become unaccustomed angelic symbols in white dresses and short embroidered veils and baskets of buttercups to be strewn before the procession.  This meant one couple walking backwards for a short time and was not without its hazards.  But we were charged with excitement and took our duties very seriously.  A special tea followed – and the sun always shone..........
For many years we were allowed to celebrate Bonfire Night only with sparklers and deadly boring indoor fireworks.  Eventually pressure prevailed and we made a mighty bonfire in the wood.  My father had sent me a selected box of “pretty” fireworks – I was never one for bangers and jumping jacks – and to my mortification, someone found them and the last one was being let off as I arrived!  The next year Father McCormack got a spark in his eye and once more the whole celebration was verboten!
All Hallowse’en was another great night.  We had bobbin’ for apples, party games and the Seniors blindfolded the “little ones” and gave them “plane” rides on a plank.  We then sat around them in candlelight whilst they scared us all silly with ghost stores.  The innocence!  Computer games were light years away.
Party games were part of our smaller celebrations such as birthdays.  Birthday cakes were sent by parents – I was always overjoyed with mine, coming in a small crate from Terry’s and stunningly decorated.  A collection was made for a gift from “all the boarders” – I still have a most treasured leather bound anthology of poems.  Talking of collections, whatever happened to all the “Black Babies” (ahem – racist?) we weekly bought stamps for?  I must have a tribe somewhere, methinks.
Sweets and biscuits were bought from the tuck shop when supplies from home ran out.  They were kept in a cupboard with numbered cubby holes which was opened at morning break and after dinner;  we also each had a larger locker for personal things and a small locker for veils and prayer books.
A walk in two-by-two “crocodile” was taken for half an hour before afternoon classes.  The total boredom was alleviated by the wonderful situation of the school, by the sea.  Despite this, one of our favourite walks was to the cemetery, where, after a prayer at the grave of a long-departed Sister and instructions not to disturb the rest by unseemly behaviour, we were let off the rein without much chance of complaint by the residents.  Weekends were different.  We might go as far as the Brig – paddle in the rock pools, gather winkles, seek out sea anemones or circle the loganstone three times without dropping the pebble balanced on the little finger to ensure your wish came true.  Other times we might go to Primrose Valley.  Here in a marshy wonderland were golden marigolds, primroses and violets, hidden grassy places to read in or streamlets to jump from stone to stone.  Later in the year we would pick blackberries to be made into mouthwatering pies for tea.
Recreation time was spent in the gym.  There was always some craze on the go – the latest dance to 78’s – the needle sticking in the groove and responding good-naturedly to a bash on the lid;  marbles, stamp collecting, acrobatics.  Perhaps Margaret, who danced like a ballerina, or Joan who could have been a trapeze artist, would show us how it should be done, and for the rest of the day we would contort ourselves in vain attempts to reach such perfection.  We painted, played chess, made up our own rules for Monopoly and read permitted books and comics – the more questionable under cover of homework or eiderdown.
Riding, Dancing, Piano and Studio were extras.  The stables were in the town just a few minutes’ walk. When the tide was out we walked along the beach, hoof marks criss-crossing the glistening sand. When the tide was in we rode in the paddock, sights on the gymkhana.  The Stables were owned by Alan – quiet, courteous and reserved, and Albert – macho, weather-beaten and not quite at ease with his innocents.  I remember my incomprehension at his amusement at our inability to distinguish between Hayward and Harwood, two not dissimilar greys, though one was a mare.....  Dancing was never the same fun for me at least, when we changed, not without some justification on the part of our dancing mistress I’m sure, from ballet to tap.  Whilst under no illusion that I offered serious competition to Fonteyn, capturing the rhythmic tap entirely eluded me.
Sister Cecile, our first piano teacher, played the organ in church and the harmonium in chapel.  Minute, French and perpetually worried, short-sightedly seeking the specs she’d pushed up on to her forehead, her gentle patience was unlimited.  “Ah, ma petite T’eona, you will need to practice more”.  Practice!  - in the icy cold of the music rooms at some Godforsaken hour!  She guided us through our first grades until we passed to Miss Gofton – of sterner stuff with the responsibility for the higher grades.  This entailed dreaded yet exciting visits to the genteel hotel in Scarborough – wide thick-carpeted stairs to the ante-room where we waited in mind-blocking terror to be called to the examiner.
Studio was sheer bliss.  When I was very small, Sister Florence, talented, ebullient, flying along the corridor with her habit streaming along behind, was a haven in tears or in laughter.  She would sit me on the step ladder to cut my ‘pony’ fringe – a job which otherwise left me in hysterics and the hairdresser in depression.  When she left we were determined in our bereavement that we would never love again.  But her successor, Sister Veronica, was wise – she rode the tide and we were soon her devoted disciples.  Poker work, Barbola, water and oil painting, crayon, pastel and charcoal – the time was never long enough.
Tennis was ‘bought in’ from the municipal courts as we had insufficient for our needs.  A few minutes’ walk, past the Royal Crescent Hotel, round the side past the basement kitchen windows.  To this day the smell of Brown Windsor induces a feeling of déjà vu.  And the sun always shone............
We were so lucky to be by the sea; the grounds falling by winding paths to the promenade level of The Villa.  This dormer windowed house was run as a free school by the nuns for local children, but two bare rooms with only sunbleached benches along the walls were our changing rooms.  Here, modestly engulfed in huge bathing sheets, we wriggled into our bathers.  We waited in orderly queue by the fuchsia hedge, cracking the unopened buds, impatient to be in the glistening sea.  How effortlessly we learnt to swim.  Back in The Villa – by now the drying sand forming a sliding golden carpet under our feet as we once more wrestled under the towel and our wet cossies dropped to the floor.  We laid our towels out in the big lawn to dry like giant postage stamps vying with the colours of the flower beds.
The nuns wore, in those days, a habit – white wimple covered by a starched poke bonnet, shawl gathered into a long black dress, full-skirted and with a piece held up across the front called, I seem to remember, something that sounded like a ‘PS’.  They must have been hideously hot in summer and the only extra – at any rate visible – was a black knitted shawl in winter.  Our uniforms we disliked intensely – both specifically and in principle.  It did not occur to us however that we should not have one.  At five years of age I wore black stockings in winter and brown stockings in summer.  Temperatures in the 70’s or not, come the middle of September we were delivered from all parts of the country on to York station in our winter plumage.  Navy, white and silver were the school colours.  Gymslips were the everyday wear with Viyella blouses in winter and cotton in summer; on Sundays in winter we wore navy dresses and navy velour hats; on weekdays serge inverted pudding basin hats with ears.  In summer we wore navy suits with cream blouses, we had panamas adorned with the school ribbons and badges.
By the time I was about seven we had progressed into summer dresses and white socks.  The dress material was bought through the school and even in those days we fell about when we saw the design specifications to which they had to be made up to preserve modesty and stunt any budding inclination to haute couture.
Scholastically we certainly had advantages.  Classes of 6 – 8 were the norm – over ten unheard of.  Years later I remember Sister Clare telling me with some incredulity and amusement that when the men from the Ministry came the only criticism they had come up with was that they felt the classrooms were under used and could have taken twice as many children.  Plus ça change......  But teaching Sisters who had formal training were few and some lay teachers were not, as I recall of a consistently high standard.  Nevertheless exam results were good and the dedication, lack of change in the staff and sensitivity were compensation indeed.  My own regret was the lack and standard of science subjects offered – subjects which were not considered of much importance.
Sister Agnes was Headmistress.  Remote and a disciplinarian – I have no recollection of her smiling.  I remember just once a rush of tenderness but there was no empathy.  Maybe she was too ‘adult’ for us.  She once tried to arouse our interest in the rudiments of philosophy by an hour of reading and discussion on Sunday afternoons.  It was short-lived.  The failure was perhaps a combination of her inability to communicate and our unawakened minds – a symptom of the ideology of the school?  With hindsight I suspect she was unfulfilled by the limitations of the area of teaching which was her lot, and a cause of pain of which we had not the remotest inkling.
Who else stands out in these formative years?  Sister Henrietta – jolly, relaxed, enthusiastic and guiding her 5 – 7 year olds through kindergarten with gentle discipline and lots of fun.  Sister Elizabeth, patiently unravelling our tortured knitting and transforming our grubby embroidery – and never taking the glory!  Sister Louise, firm and infinitely suited to the traumatic stage from nursery to junior school.  Sister Clare – a legend for generations of Fileyites and perhaps for countless pupils the most positive influence of their school days.  Sister Clare – English, History and Latin across all the senior forms, was a teacher par excellence.  Not only did she have the subject matter but she imparted it with her own brand of communication skills.  We were indeed fortunate.
Sister Josephine, in my first years one of the only three French Sisters, morning and evening, winter and summer, trotting – she never seemed to walk – to the discreetly sited hen run, returning with her apron carefully enfolding the collection from her brood.
Miss Lenihan – a raving Irish beauty – doomed to failure by her inability to control us.  We must have made life hell and it’s a pity we didn’t benefit from her undoubted ability.  Miss Holland, ‘Dutchy’, was a gentle, perhaps less talented person but whose personality and ability to communicate made her an infinitely better teacher.
The most formidable of our mentors was undoubtedly Miss Jackson who took P.E.  If she had a Christian name we never knew it.  She ruled supreme – no velvet glove for her iron grip and a stare that would terrify Medusa.  Once a week she dined with us.  Backs were never straighter, voices more subdued and it never occurred to us that she could not see round corners.  In fact her discipline went over the top and she went away for a ‘rest’.  She undoubtedly had major problems and when she announced her engagement to be married it was received with incredulity.  However, we gave her a wedding present with sincere good wishes and much relief.  Miss Jacklin, a dignified, immaculately coiffeured lady came on Wednesdays to give Elocution sessions, and I suppose was the nearest we got to formalised drama.  School plays were great fun.  Each year we put on a Nativity play and during the Spring Term something more demanding.  Sister Florence and later Sister Veronica did some wonderful costume drawings which we sent home to be made up.  In the course of time as the dress boxes arrived back we paraded around, practising with greasepaint and exhorting family and friends to rally round on the night.
Eventually a new dormitory was built.  That summer parents received a letter to say the work was not finished and we had a two week extension to our holiday.  Oh joy!  The largest bedrooms had had only five beds and the new dormitory had twelve for the youngest group.  We had an infirmary but it was very seldom used.  If there was an infection the invalids were usually confined to a back room.  However one year an epidemic of chicken pox really got a hold and about six rooms had to be taken over.  I got it last of all, rather badly and, as a result, had to spend a whole week on my own in this drear room with all the tatty comics listening to the interminable sounds of  ‘Cherry Ripe’ being practised for a forthcoming concert, floating up from the hall.
We were divided into three Houses, and the colours of red, green and blue were identified in badges and gymslip girdles.  Hockey, tennis and netball matches, both inter-house and against other schools, were the highlights of the sports year together with a Sports Day in the summer term.  Hockey was played on the sands – very fast and a moveable feast according to the tide.
I recently saw a documentary about the experiences of Convent Boarding School girls.  I found my experience related to a great deal and the nostalgia was strong.  However there was an excerpt which bore no resemblance to my recollections – the insensitivity of the particular nun was foreign to my experience.  If there was a certain snobbishness it was based on values and expectations rather than a contempt for differences.
The events of the world did not impinge unduly unless they were indeed world-shattering.  It was not that we were not informed – indeed the radio was an important part of our lives and we would have whole days off to hear important events, but a benign censor prevailed.  Matters of moment were discussed but there was little impact in that sheltered environment and, compared with our contemporaries in more open establishments and certainly in comparison with our own children, I think we were often late developers!
My final years were at the Convent of the Nativity, Romilly.  A small group were evacuated and I have few happy recollections and wished desperately I had taken the alternative I was offered.  The upheaval itself was bad enough but the general environment – a culture shock – came at the wrong time.  The world was in turmoil and the years which should have prepared us to adapt were wanting.  Personally, scholastically, although leaving with qualifications, they were not suited to my expressed needs.  Not all this was apparent at the time but general dissatisfaction is the over-riding memory.  The friends I have retained are from Filey and our support came mainly from the Sisters who came with us.
How much do I regret?  In the immediate years after leaving, quite a lot.  But in retrospect, and in terms of my own career and married life, not a lot.  We had time to grow;  simple straightforward unquestioning acceptance of ideals were however painful to question and sometimes reject – but there was no insuperable barrier to make this impossible and overall there was so much of incomparable value.