Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

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down south
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Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by down south »

Here's a picture for all those of you who were at St Michael's; it shows a retirement presentation for Miss Mary E Wade, principal teacher of English, in March of 1972.
Miss Wade 1972.jpg
Also seen in the picture are the head teacher Sister Pauline, and the head boy and girl, James Fitzpatrick and Elizabeth Breslin. According to a brief accompanying article Miss Wade, who lived in Prestwick, had taught at the school since 1931, so I expect she will be known to many of you; and Sister Pauline too probably.

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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by John Donnelly »

Typical Polly. Never ever remember seeing the woman smiling.

Had Maisie for years. Had time for her. She was okay, if a bit eccentric.

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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by morag »

Loved Maisie..a BIT eccentric John??? :lol:
By the time you got past the prayers and litanies to saints most of us had never heard of you were lucky to have any lesson time! For all that she was a pretty good teacher in that she maybe fired the imagination!
The pic threw me a bit as Sr. Pauline looks younger than she should or at least than she did when I was there, maybe it's the new 'wimple'? Showing a wee bit of hair.
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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by John Donnelly »

Being taught by Maisie was an experience. Here's a couple of stories.

In the 4th year, our home class was the playroom. You will remember, the staff-room was next to it.

Maisie marches into the classroom to start the lesson mumbling, 'Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen,' makes the sign of the cross and says 'take out your books.' She'd started saying the Hail-Mary when she left the staff-room, and all we got was the last sentence.

In the same playroom; the heating never worked in there, and it was in the middle of the winter and it was FREEZING. Maisie marches in wearing her fur coat and says to one of the boys, take that scarf off. You know it's against the rules to wear a scarf in class.'

Fond memories.

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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by down south »

Makes the eccentricities of some of our Academy teachers seem quite tame; though we did have a primary teacher who devoted about an hour every day to hymn-singing and bible study...

Do you think Sister Pauline is actually trying to smile in ths one; or is it just that the sun has got in her eyes ?
's 1974.jpg
She's seen here with some of the school prizewinners in 1974. Must have been almost the last date when there might have been people from the Three Towns among them

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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by John Donnelly »

My goodness. It does seem like a smile. Must have been senility creeping on.

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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by Brian D »

I loved Maisie she was a wee bit eccentric but a
great teacher. As I lived in Prestwick I had her life lessons on a Sunday as well

A lovely lady whom I remember fondly
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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by Anne »

Nearest & Dearest was up in Botswana , can't remember the year. He had heard before going that Sr Pauline had retired there and he visited her. He said she was so nice and remarked how funny it was she had to come all the way to Africa to get a cuddle from an expupil. He asked why she had a cardigan on as it was 100 in the shade almost and the Nuns with her laughed and said how it didn't matter how hot it was she never was without her cardigan.
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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by phands »

I went to St Michael's from 70 to 74. It's safe to say I hated almost every second of it...outside of the classrooms, and a few times also inside.

The place was a hostile hotbed of psychotic bullying and religious lunacy. Sister Pauline was a remote figure for me, but most of the other nuns that I had as teachers were horrific human beings, believing in "spare the rod and spoil the child" being applied as frequently as possible - even if the rod was a belt. One history teacher - Sister Dominick Savio - was totally deranged...in a 40 minute history period, she would spend the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes praying,and do a very little history in the middle 10 minutes, If we forgot homework, she'd hand out "a penny fine for the missions" as punishment. We leaned nothing, and she turned me off history so much, it took decades to realise what a fascinating topic it can be. The bullying didn't just come from the staff, though - the playground was a place of terror, particularly from a group of bullies from Stevenston who picked on anyone academically inclined.

We did have one nun who was very pleasant. She taught English, and I think was called Sister Margaret. She disappeared after first year, and the rumour was that she'd got pregnant and left under a cloud.

Some of the other, non-religious staff, I remember with nothing but fondness, and they are the people I credit with me getting a good education, and having the great life and career I'm still enjoying at 60!

I was a swotty kid, doing well in the more academic studies, and not interested in the arts or sports, and that marked me out for a lot of bullying, but I got a lot of consolation and support from those teachers.

Even in the art department, I had a curious friendship with Mr "Jas" Campbell because we both loved electronics.

My Mathematics teacher was Mr Kavanagh - called himself "Kit" for some reason - and he was superb. I still study maths and teach it today, and I think of him every time I do.

Physics was Sean Pendleton. He had a reputation for being scary and bad tempered, but I never experienced that at all, and got on really well with him....and learned a lot, leading to my career in electronics and computing.

Chemistry was Mr Foy. A sheer joy of a human being, he used to allow a few of us swots to use his chemistry lab at lunchtimes to eat lunch and get away from the awfulness out in the playground. I learned a lot from him, and that also helped with my chosen career.

I can't remember the biology teacher's name, but that topic still delights me too.

I had Mr Leishman for Technical Drawing - another great teacher.

In the French department, I had "Pussy" O'Sullivan. He too was reputed to be scary, and he was tough on bad behaviour, but he was a great teacher, and I still love speaking French.

For geography, I seem to remember a guy with the nickname of "Bamber", perhaps due to a resemblance to Bamber Gascoigne, the TV quiz master.

I may have confused the names of the teachers, please correct me if I did.
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Re: Miss Wade and Sister Pauline, St Michael's 1972

Post by exile »

phands wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 2:49 am I went to St Michael's from 70 to 74. It's safe to say I hated almost every second of it...outside of the classrooms, and a few times also inside.
I was also taught by Sr Dominic Savio - allegedly an intellectual - and likewise had zero interest in history because of the dire & pedestrian methods she used, but discovered it later in life and now read little else.
On the awfulness of the playground, I remember a relative doing teacher training there in the mid-70s and I found the description of it all completely unrecognisable from the school I had gone to just a few years earlier, and thinking "what went wrong?".
Answers welcomed.

P.S. "Vince" Campbell was Art.
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