Sundry Considerations

Higher education destinations, 1960s

Although not a full and comprehensive list, the institutions shown below were among those to which students from the school gained admittance and studied at in the 1960s. The information is derived largely from surviving Speech Day programmes, the “set” of which is incomplete.

Among the universities attended were Bangor; Bath; Bradford; Cambridge; Cardiff; Essex; Hull; Keele; Kent; Lancaster; Leicester; Liverpool; Leeds; London; London School of Economics; Loughborough; Manchester; Newcastle; Nottingham; Reading; Salford; Sheffield; Southampton; Swansea; Yale (USA); and York.

In addition, many students went on to study at Alsager College of Education; Bingley College of Education; Christ's College of Education (Liverpool); City University; De La Salle College of Education; Edge Hill College of Education; Flintshire College of Education; Goldsmith’s College of Education; Hendon College of Technology; Hollins College (Manchester); John Dalton College (Manchester); Lanchester College of Technology; Liverpool College of Commerce; London Polytechnic; Loughborough College; Macclesfield College of Further Education; Manchester College of Commerce; Manchester College of Building; Mid Essex Technical College; Newman College of Education; Northampton College; Nottingham College of Technology; Portsmouth College of Advanced Technology; Redland Training College (Bristol); R.A.F. College (Cranwell); R.N. College (Dartmouth);  Salford College of Advanced Technology; St Mary’s Training College; Trinity and All Saints College (Leeds); Welsh College of Technology; Wolverhampton College of Technology; Wolverhampton Polytechnic; and  Woolwich Polytechnic. 

Unfortunately, there is no record of the institutions attended after 1970.

Political, cultural and other considerations   

Just as earlier generations of Gregorians attended school against a background of difficult circumstances, something similar could be said of the post-1945 cohorts. The world was not only changing, but changing rapidly.

Politically, the Potsdam Conference of 1945 had set the scene with Germany being divided, as was Europe. This was the era of the Cold War, a term referring to the chilled relationship which existed between the two super-powers, the USA and the USSR. They basically distrusted and feared each other and were always wary and suspicious. There was provocation, brinkmanship and espionage. Relationships were unfriendly. The Cold War also affected the friends and allies of both the USA and the USSR.

A great ideological gap existed between the East and West. The West, comprising the USA and her NATO partners from Canada and western Europe, were democratic countries and believed in capitalism, free speech and movement, trade unions, elections, political parties, opposition to government, religious freedom, profit-making, fair and public trials and little government interference. The Soviet Union and eastern bloc countries of eastern Europe featured opposite characteristics, such as a lack of free speech, restricted movement, strict government control, suppression of trade unions and religion, banning of some political parties and opposition, dictatorships, totalitarianism, communism, and the discouragement of ideas and propaganda from the West.

Throughout this period there were many crises including the Berlin Blockade (1948) and Berlin Air Lift (1948-49), Korean War (1950-53), Hungarian Uprising (1956), Suez (1956), Bay of Pigs Incident (1961), Berlin Wall (1961) Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) and the Vietnam War. There seemed then to be war and conflict almost everywhere all the time. There were also colonial wars, with colonies wishing to become independent from their colonial masters.

How all of these affected schoolchildren at the time is impossible to say, if indeed it did affect them at all.

One of the fears that young people (and old) lived with was the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. With the proliferation of deadly nuclear warheads – which could be fired from land, sea and air – the world at times could feel a very unsafe place indeed. This was particularly the case in October 1962, when the Cuban missile crisis came to a head. The world held its breath. Mankind was on the brink of a nuclear war, or so it seemed at the time.

This was also a period of immense social and cultural change. Attitudes, values, customs and practices underwent change. “The Fifties was the decade that gave birth to the teenager,” it has been claimed. Yet this claim did have more than an element of truth in it.  Young people, especially, seemed to be “more important” than ever before and were increasingly targeted in a consumer-driven world of fashion, materialism and entertainment. The rise of “pop music” and “pop culture” from the mid-Fifties awakened a vitality and interest in the youth of that time. There were beatniks and Teddy boys, mods and rockers. Beatniks were young people belonging to a subculture that displayed the more superficial aspects of the beat generation literary movement throughout the 1950s to the mid-1960s; they rebelled against conventional attitudes, middle-class values and commercialism. Their attitudes, unconventional dress and behaviour appeared to be an expression of a social philosophy. Teddy boys were young men associated with a subculture characterised by wearing a style of dress based on Edwardian fashion, with hair slicked up in a quiff and with a liking for rock-and-roll music. Both groups became stereotyped by the media. 

By the mid-1960s there were “mods”, who were members of teenage groups and were characterised by being very clothes-conscious and with a liking for riding motor scooters. There were also “rockers”, who were young persons belonging to a subculture characterised by the wearing of leather clothing, riding motor-cycles, and having a liking for rock music. At times, such as on Bank Holidays at seaside resorts, there were clashes between mods and rockers.

Accelerated by “Beatle mania” and the rise of other pop groups and singers, the 1960s became a decade of unparalleled change. Together with advances in technology, literature, films and television, new ideas quickly spread (often from the United States) and attitudes and opinions were constantly subjected to influence and change. There was growing liberalism in many walks of life and, at the same time, an increased challenge to authority. Those in positions of authority found themselves increasingly subjected to questioning. The old adage of “respect for one’s elders and betters” was frequently being put to the test by educated youngsters asking awkward questions and suggesting new ways of doing things. “Give peace a chance,” pleaded John Lennon. “We’re a whole generation with a new explanation,” sang Scott McKenzie in San Francisco. Barry McGuire’s Eve of Destruction, a protest song, warned of the dangers of the age.  Flower power, hippies, mods, rockers et al. This was the age of outrageous music, cults and fads, not to mention drug-taking and promiscuity. Demonstrations, protests and sit-ins were all part of the scene. Again, how much of this affected schoolchildren is impossible to quantify, except to say that it must have had some effect on some if not all youngsters.  A quick glance at changes in hair and dress styles of pupils at school is sufficient to prove the point. “Answering back” to those in authority became a growing practice, although I don’t think this was ever an issue at St Gregory’s.

Looking back, the Sixties was a wonderful era in which to be young; there was so much going on. Success by England in the 1966 soccer World Cup contributed to a national feeling of ‘well-being’. In Manchester, both United and City enjoyed success: United won the F.A. Cup, in 1963; the First Division League Championship, in 1964-65 and again in 1966-67; and the European Cup, in 1968. As for City, their future looked rather bleak after their relegation to the Second Division in 1963. In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison was appointed, and so started a golden era. In the first season under Mercer, City won the Second Division title. Two seasons later, in 1967-68, Manchester City claimed the League Championship, clinching the title on the final day of the season with a thrilling 4-3 win at Newcastle United and beating their close neighbours Manchester United into second place. Further trophies followed: City won the F.A. Cup in 1969, before achieving European success by winning the European Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1970. City also won the League Cup in that season.

Economically, the third quarter of the twentieth century was, in general, a period of continued growth and prosperity with plentiful employment and job opportunities, especially in and around Manchester. The prime minister, Harold Macmillan, made an optimistic speech at a party rally in Bedford in 1957 when he famously told his fellow Conservatives that “most of our people have never had it so good”. He painted a rosy picture of Britain’s economy while urging wage restraint and warning that inflation was the country’s most important problem of the post-war era. Increased production in major industries such as steel, coal and motor cars had led to a rise in wages, export earnings and investment, he claimed. Macmillan went on to say: “You will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime – nor indeed in the history of this country.”

The majority of boys, including some with very good results, left St Gregory’s after taking their O-levels and there seemed to be plenty of options open to them.  As for those who were disappointed with their O-level results, I think many would have gone on to be very successful in their working lives and careers once they decided on what they wanted to do. Apprenticeships, day-release, evening classes and training schemes were available to those with ambitions to prosper.  

The Second Vatican Council, 1962-65

Informally known as Vatican II, this council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. The council, through the Holy See, formally opened under the pontificate of Pope John XXXIII in October 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in December 1965. Its aim was to revive and renew Christian faith and move the Church into closer touch with ordinary people.

Vatican II brought some major changes to the Church. Among these were the widespread use of vernacular languages in the Mass instead of Latin, the subtle disuse of ornate clerical regalia, the revision of Eucharistic prayers, the abbreviation of the liturgical calendar, the freedom to celebrate the Mass versus populum (facing the “East” and the Crucifix), and modern aesthetic changes encompassing contemporary Catholic liturgical music and artwork, many of which remained divisive among the Catholic faithful. There was a greater role for lay people. Participation was encouraged in new ways, with new possibilities granted for music and singing, and women were allowed upfront roles as readers, lectors and Eucharistic ministers, as well as altar servers in some places. The sweeping reforms also included no longer forbidding Catholic attendance at Protestant services or reading from a Protestant bible. The Church declared its intention to show greater tolerance to other sects and religions, and especially to the Jewish and Protestant people. Gone were the days when such people were regarded as “enemies” or “others”. 

Some of these reforms, of course, were implemented in school Masses which were now said in English by the chaplain, who stood behind a simple wooden altar and faced the congregation. The practice of boys having to learn and recite Latin prayers and hymns declined. Another change in school may have been the employment of more non-Catholic members of staff.

Pupils with foreign surnames

One of the noticeable changes at the school from the late 1950s was the increasing number of pupils with European surnames, in particular children of Polish and east European migrants. Many Poles arrived in Britain during the Second World War, but many more came later. Immediately after 1945, approximately 135,000 Poles entered the UK as refugees or displaced persons.

Poland was one of the critical factors in bringing Britain into the Second World War and Poles fought alongside British forces during the conflict. For that reason, Poles were seen in Whitehall and perceived in the wider community, as a ‘special case’, with no less a figure than Winston Churchill singling Poles out as ‘special’. The Polish Resettlement Act was passed in 1947 to provide entitlement to employment as well as unemployment assistance in Britain. Manchester became the home of many of these migrants and they tended to settle in certain Polish community ‘hotspots’ which sprang up after the war. Among these were Old Trafford, Brooks’s Bar, Whalley Range, Cheetham Hill, Whitefield, Bury and Oldham. Some of these, such as Whalley Range and Old Trafford, had large Polish communities from the late 1940s.

There were various Polish clubs dotted around where young people could dance and meet, such as at Brooks’s Bar and Cheetham Hill which were popular and easy to get to by public transport. The Polish community in Manchester was extremely successful in integrating and blending in with local life – marrying local people and entering trades and professions in the local community. In addition, the Poles had a reputation as ‘good workers, solid citizens and family people’. An increasingly significant number of pupils had Polish names.

Other pupils arrived at St Gregory’s with east European names, some possibly fleeing their homelands as a result of aspects of the Cold War.

There were also more boys with Italian names. In the late 19th century, there was an exodus of Italians due to the political and economic situation. They travelled from every region of Italy, particularly southern Italy, to the UK. Some settled in the Ancoats area of Manchester and for the next hundred years they created what became known as Manchester’s “Ancoats’ Little Italy”. It was also nicknamed the “Italian Colony of Ancoats”. 

They brought colour and life to Manchester in various ways and provided a rich heritage. They enhanced the Catholic Whit Walks, they pioneered the ice cream industry, and they added vigour and involvement to the local community. Some of the boys from these families attended St Gregory’s before the Second World War, as can be seen from lists of names previously given. Their numbers increased after the war, by which time many Italian families had moved out of Ancoats to settle elsewhere. Like the Poles and others, the Italians had a reputation for family values, hard work and good citizenship, as well as a deep commitment to Catholicism – traits that were passed on from one generation to the next.

As far as the school was concerned, its community was greatly enriched by the presence of these boys.

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