Embedded Files
A group of 39 mixed-aged boys and five staff pictured in the schoolyard, mid-1930s
Staff include Mr D. Whealing, centre on back row; Mr F. Andrew, far left on middle row; Mr A. J. Rocca, far right on middle row; Mr G. Curran, far left on front row, and Mr J.P. Waldron, far right on front row.
Immediately to the left of Mr Whealing on the back row was Bernard Walsh. To the right of Mr Whealing was William Roe. Seated on the front row, fourth from left, was Bernard Killeen, arms folded and wearing a cap.
An interesting feature of this photograph is that none of the boys appears to be wearing any semblance of a school uniform, although five of them are wearing caps, attached to which are small metal badges featuring the school’s insignia.
The photograph, which may have preceded a school trip, was taken outside the flat of the caretakers, Dinah and Sam Wilson. The door on the right led to Dinah’s kitchen, where for many years she kept the school tuck-shop and did a brisk business in selling ice-lollies to the boys.
(Mr Rocca would eventually, in 1951, become headmaster of the school.)
School cruise trip, about 1936
Speaking in 2013 as he approached his 90th birthday, Dennis O’Grady, at St Gregory’s 1934-38, recalled a school trip which has lived in his memory ever since:
“We travelled down south and boarded the boat at Tilbury docks. There were other school parties on board, some from London, and we slept on hammocks. The cruise took us to Norway, Denmark and [Nazi] Germany. We visited Oslo and sailed through the Kattegat and through the Kiel Canal. The cost of the trip was £5, no small amount in those days.”
School trip to the New Forest, late 1930s
This photograph features a group of St Gregory’s pupils who spent an enjoyable week staying in circular log cabins in the New Forest at Fordingbridge, Hampshire. Pictured in the centre, with arms folded and wearing a greyish short-sleeved shirt, is [teacher] Mr Harry O’Brien. Below and to the left of him is William (Bill) Roe, a pupil, facing the camera and wearing a white open-necked shirt with the collar over the collar of his light-coloured jacket. Bill later recalled that pupils financed these trips by making contributions to the STA (Schoolboys’ Travelling Association), a scheme run by many schools, including St Gregory’s. Pupils paid a number of instalments over the year, usually about half-a-crown (2s 6d) at a time.
Derbyshire and the Lake District were also popular venues for school trips and outings, the pupils enjoying the open-air and activities such as hiking and, at nights, singing and playing music around a camp-fire. These trips were much appreciated by youngsters who, for the most part, lived in grimy, crowded areas of inner-city Manchester. The trips were “good for the soul and good for the body”.
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