Against the Odds

Against the Odds Copyright Pat Harris 2010 Digital Edition Copyright Lesley Jolly Contents Dedication Acknowledgements Preface Introduction Chapter 1 Foundation and Early Years Chapter 2 School for Youn g Ladies Chapter 3 Into a New Age Chapter 4 The Grammar School Chapter 5 A Grammar School at War Chapter 6 Growth and Change Chapter 7 Interesting Times Chapter 8 The Promised Land Chapter 9 The Lost Grammar Schools Chapter 10 In My End is My Beginning. Appendix A The School Song Bibliography Sources Dedication The Hollies was founded twenty years before the national move to provide grammar school education for girls. It was the first convent secondary school in Manchester. This book is testimony to the work of a group of women who were pioneers in the field of education for girls, to the seven generations of girls who attended the school, and to the staff, friends and benefactors who contributed so generously to the spirit of The Hollies. Acknowledgements This book has been made possible by the enthusiasm and commitment of all who were involved in its production. It is the culmination of a long process of generous sharing of expertise, memories, and collections of memorabilia. Throughout the process, I have benefited from the support of the Trustees of the school, The Society of The Faithful Companions of Jesus, to whom I am indebted for access to their Archives; Sister Mary Campion McCarren – FCJ Archivist; Sister Denise Mulcahy – FCJ Archivist; Sister Victoire Murphy – for her memories of over twenty years as Headmistress; Sister Bernadette O’Malley – the last Headmistress of the Hollies. I am grateful for the inexhaustible support of many ex- Hollies personnel; to The Publishing Team; Kathy Gorman (Walton) – for printing, and binding the book; Julie Kirk – for copy editing the text; Lesley Jolly (Townson) – for her brilliant art work; Celia Poole – for her work on publicity in the Manchester area; and Frances Ratchford – who managed the whole project. My thanks go also to The Hollies Past Pupils’ Association; Wyn Gleeson (Hill) – Secretary and “keeper of the lists”; Gay Colligan – Treasurer. A special mention goes to past pupils and staff; Anne Brown (Butterly) – for her work extracting the statistics provided in the Speech Day Programmes; Bernadette Bradley (Coffey) – for use of material from her MA thesis; Anne-Marie Lowes (Carroll) – who “started the ball rolling” in gathering the mass of memorabilia and “final photographs”; and to the innumerable “old girls” and friends who contributed their memories, documents and photographs. I am personally indebted to Eamonn for taking over as “base manager and chief dog walker” for the last two years, to Jenny Drummond, the first ‘reader’ of the text, June Henderson Wayland for her patient scrutiny with a historian’s eye for detail; and the Friends Reunited website, for facilitating contact with so many ex-pupils who would have otherwise been “untraceable”; Mention must also be made of Geoff Appleton whose skills with a graphics package provided the images for the front cover and page iv. Publisher’s Acknowledgements I am grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material: Manchester City Galleries, Mosley Street, Manchester for Plate 28; Manchester Archives and Local Studies, Central Library, Manchester for Plates 4, 5, 8, 31, 47; Documentary Photography Archive, Greater Manchester County Records Office, Marshall Street for Plate 7; Imperial War Museum, London for Plate 30. Author’s Note: Where reference is made to materials in the FCJ Archives, specific primary sources are not named but location is specified. Women’s surnames used in the text are maiden names. When used elsewhere, the married name is given first with the maiden name in brackets. Photograph ownership is acknowledged in brackets at the end of each caption. The availability of e-mail allowed the copy editor to process each chapter without our ever having met in person. Needless to say, the final responsibility for any errors, omissions or misinterpretations is mine. Pat Harris (February 2002) Preface When Patricia Harris started out to reflect on the educational experience of three generations of women - herself, her mother and her daughter - she soon realised that her research into the history of the school she had attended would result in the presentation of more than a chronological survey. In the last few years more emphasis has been placed on ‘lived experience’, and reflection has drawn significance from events whose meaning is more than their having happened. This certainly has been evident in the history of women’s education. Over time, fundamental values would endure but the content of the curriculum through which they were to be delivered and the context in which they were to be lived out would change. The world from which the pupils came and into which, as school leavers, they would go would be vastly different. This is not an anthology of anecdotes but a considered history of The Hollies F.C.J., through more than a century. It draws on archival material as well as oral tradition and is the fruit both of research and of appreciation and love. In terms of bricks and mortar The Hollies may be no more; in terms of spirit and values it lives on in the women who cherish the traditions. Readership should not be limited to those who have been part of the tradition - past pupils, teachers and FCJ Sisters. Against the Odds has much to offer to students of education in general, to those interested in the development of Catholic education in England, and to those concerned to see due regard given to the work and influence of women religious in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Mary Campion McCarren FCJ, British Province Archivist. Introduction The research for this book grew out of an Oral History project with the Open University that focussed on the education of three generations of women, mothers, and their daughters. The literature available for that project concentrated on the development of girls’ grammar schools in the 1870s. I was aware that The Hollies had a much earlier origin and was curious to find the reason. This led me, in 1999, to the Society of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, to France and the French Revolution. The origins of the Society were marked by conflict both social and ecclesiastical, as was the history of the school. A past pupil wrote to me about her experiences of entering the school buildings on the day it was due for demolition. She said “We all, no doubt, have a plethora of special memories of our youth at The Hollies. What I believe may be common to them all is the school’s special ethos which made it a unique place in which to lay the foundations to grow towards adulthood.” What was the source of that ethos? Finding the answer to that question was the goal I set myself when I undertook the task of researching the history of the school. I was aware of the paucity of archival material for The Hollies. Much was lost when the school closed though some important documents were “saved” by Sister Victoire Murphy. I resolved to find what was available from past pupils and staff. This was not an easy task. Women tend to change their surnames at marriage, and move with their husbands to other areas, countries, and even continents. Those who do not marry go where their work takes them. A website seemed a useful tool for attracting potential supplies of information, but it was the discovery of the Friends Reunited website that resulted in a massive increase in numbers. Friends Reunited works on the simple premise of entering the name by which one was known at school under the year of leaving that school. For the payment of a small fee, I was able to contact hundreds of past pupils. A mass of materials was the result. Since the publication of the printed book, Facebook continues to provide new contacts., renewal of old friendships and sharing of old photographs and memories of the school. Chapter 1 Foundation and Early Years ‘If no pupils come, it will be a sign of God’s will.’ Girls' high schools of the nineteenth century were the creation of great teachers. To learn how the schools arose, one does not read the story of the school. It is the life of the Founder that gives the history of the institution and explains its origin, character, and development. The story of The Hollies does not, however, rest with the story of one person but with a religious community of women. Despite their stereotypic image as ‘naïve or strictly otherworldly creatures’, nuns, as a group were among the best-educated and most accomplished women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Notwithstanding their subordination to men within the Church, nuns exercised greater control over their lives than any other group of female contemporaries. The Society of the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJs) was founded in 1820 at Amiens, France, by Marie Madeleine Victoire de Bengy de Bonnault d’Houët. She was born in Châteauroux, France, in 1781, married Joseph, Viscount de Bonnault in 1804, and was widowed the following year. As a young widow with estates to run and a child to care for, Marie Madeleine nevertheless felt called to do God’s work as a companion of Jesus. She knew she would meet with opposition from the Jesuits for her wish to take the name “Faithful Companions of Jesus” and so she worked slowly and carefully. She took her guidance from a trusted chaplain and believed that every divine work was marked with the cross. The special cross attached to her courageous enterprise was that ‘having been greatly aided in the beginning by certain ecclesiastics, these same priests should afterwards … become estranged from her and placed many obstacles in her path’.

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