The 150th anniversary of the Xaverian College
There are so many American movies where former high school students return for a 5th or 10th anniversary event – but we don’t have this sort of tradition in Britain. Imagine my surprise then when I was invited to return to the secondary school which I left in 1966 – an amazing 46 years ago.
At that time, Xaverian College in Manchester was a Roman Catholic, single-sex, direct grant grammar school. I attended from 1959-1966 and, in the last year, I was the School Captain. Here I obtained nine ‘O’ Levels and four ‘A’ Levels before going on to university.
This year the staff and students, both current and former, are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the college. The Xaverian Brothers – the Catholic order who ran the school – first came to England in 1848 to teach at St. Marie’s parish school in Bury. Two years later, they moved to Granby Row in Manchester and began teaching in the crypt of the church. In 1862, the Brothers were asked to take charge of the Manchester Catholic Collegiate Institute.
In 1907, permission was given for the Brothers to relocate to new accommodation in Victoria Park in Rusholme in south Manchester where the school has remained ever since and where I walked each day from my home in Fallowfield. The Manchester Catholic Collegiate Institute was renamed Xaverian College. In 1977, the grammar school was changed into a Sixth Form College and it is now co-educational and reflects the ethnic diversity of the city. The trusteeship of the College was transferred from the Xaverian Brothers to Salford Diocese in 2001.
This weekend, I went up from London to Manchester to attend a special mass and reception to mark the foundation of Xaverian College one and half centuries ago. It was a weird experience returning to the site of my secondary school after four and a half decades. There are now twice as many buidlings and three times as many students and the range of ‘A’ Levels on offer is vastly greater than in my day. The room where the refreshments were served used to be the gym and the former music room now houses a Costa cafe.
But the afternoon was a very pleasant experience to which I owe particular thanks to Tony Knowles who invited me.
Tony arrived at the school in 1965 when I was the School Captain and he still remembers my speech at the college’s Speech Day at the Free Trade Hall (now demolished). He returned to the school as an economics teacher and is now the Vice-Principal. Tony showed me round some of the college and gave me a packet of personal mementos including the full examination results of my class in 1963 when I was top of the class.
The highlight of my visit was an opportunity to meet my former headmaster Brother Cyril. He appointed me School Captian and I used to visit him often in his study where he was noted for his intimidating reticence. I thought that he was old at the time, but I now realise that he was only 40 or so. Today he is aged 87 and lives in retirement with the American Xaverian Brothers just outside Boston.
It was a delight to sit with him and have a little chat. He told me: “You were a very good public speaker … I thought that you would go into politics”. He wasn’t far wrong: I still do public speaking (I’m addressing an Ofwat conference tomorrow) and, early in my career, I worked for the Parliamentary Labour Party and a Labour Government for six years and contested two General Elections.
Roger (64) with Brother Cyril (87)
July 8th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Roger, is School Captain something like Head Boy? The British educational system is so different, and sadly, my main frame of reference is the Harry Potter series! Which are higher, O or A levels? What did you have to do to earn them? We don’t have anything like that in America, and I’m always curious to learn more about other countries’ school systems.
July 8th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Yes, Dana, School Captain (which is what I was called) is the same as Head Boy. I got to choose a team of prefects and i set up a School Council with an elected representative from each class – even then, i was a democrat and a politician!
O Levels were Ordinary Level examinations – they’ve since been replaced – that one took about aged 15 or 16 (what you would call 10th grade, i think) and A Levels are Advanced Level examinations that one takes at 17 or 18 (what you would call 12th grade, I think).
All these exams are set by bodies external to individual schools so that the results are independent and comparable.
August 28th, 2012 at 7:09 pm
Hello, Roger. This is fascinating. I was a year ahead of you, taking my A levels in June 1965. Thanks to Mr Barratt, the excellent art teacher, I had a late interview for Manchester College of Art and joined for the foundation course. Next came Norwich (1966) for three very good years. I kept in touch with contemporaries such as Martin Hannett (RIP) (who made one never-to-be-forgotten visit to Norwich), Denis Byrne, Paul Morris, John Tierney, Mike Pennington, Tim Gausden etc. Denis and Paul and I correspond regularly and they keep me up to date with things “up there”. I wonder if you remember Bernard Connolly, a pupil in your year. Like Martin and me, he attended Corpus Christi church in Miles Platting – until the city council demolished much of the area in 1963-64. Anyway, congratulations on your achievements and thanks for making the information available.
October 13th, 2012 at 9:34 am
Someone just said to me “you must have had a good English teacher” and that got me remembering Jack Connolly at Xavs so a quick Google brought me here.
I was at Xaverian from 1969-1976 and had some excellent teachers and owe much to the school.
It’s lovely to see a photo of Bro Cyril – I thought I’d read somewhere that he’d died but obviously not. I think he was a superb head teacher – he always seemed terribly calm. The 6th form was almost self governing but he used to come in early in the morning and post notices on the board outside the library.
October 13th, 2012 at 10:53 am
Glad that I was able to bring back some happy memories, Steve. We owe a lot to our teachers and mentors.
November 14th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Thank you for posting this – I was at Xavs from 1964 ubtil 1971 when I left the Sixth Form. Brother Cyril was indeed a formidable figure! Years after I left I needed confirmation of my O level and A level results and so wrote to Brother Cyril. He sent me the added information and a personal note saying something like: “It is good to hear from you after such a long time. We thought you had died. And all those prayers for the repose of your soul.” I have nothing but fond memories (rose-tinted glasses aside) of my time at Xaverian.
November 29th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Hi Roger.nice reading the comments concerning Brother Cyril.He was a decent person and a fair man albeit i had the misfortune to have to visit his office on several occasions for various misdemeanours in school.I attended Xavs between 1966/1972 having previously attended st annes preparatory school in fallowfield.This is the first time i have visited the xavs website and reading various comments by ex students brings back happy memories.unfortunately i left after only achieving 3 o/levels,however,i went on to serve as a police officer in GMP for 30 years.I remember several of the teachers mentioned by other students i.e Brother Robert Mr Fitton etc.I also remember Bernard lackey who taught me boxing.I represented xavs on many occasions winning several trophies and also went to box for manchester boys.happy days