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The Abbey St Thomas's Grammar/secondary Erdington

mollie.jpg This may be a middle-aged Mollie, or at least one of her sisters. Does she look familiar?
 
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Hi Perry, Delighted to hear from you. Where abouts were the St Thomas buildings? Was it originally a part of the current primary school before the 1950s? Mollie died Dec 1971 and her funeral notice (kindly sourced and sent to me by a woman working in one of Birmingham's cemeteries, after I had searched through the records of every public cemetery in Birmingham!) says she was interred at the Abbey. I had to laugh at your comment that she had retired and then started teaching again. It was clearly her life and it seems she was there a long time, having left Ireland quite young. You have a wonderful memory. Thank you for sharing with me. It means a great deal to me as I have been trying to piece her story together for 20 years.

Hello Frances
Your query has opened up for me a solution to a query that has bothered me for years, but first details that I have discovered about Miss Hyland. I contacted the manager of the Abbey cemetery and she provided me with the following information.
Miss Mary Teresa Hyland aged 84 was interred at The Abbey Cemetery on the December 7th 1971 in grave A-130B. I shall be visiting the grave sometime next week and if there is a head stone, I shall send you a photo. All this has led to an answer to a query that I have had for many years. The resting place of my form teacher, Mary Margaret Rose. Apparently she too was laid to rest at the Abbey and the manager will have details for me next week.
The secondary school was demolished many years ago but the primary school continues to thrive. There are now houses where the secondary school stood.
 
Hello Frances
Your query has opened up for me a solution to a query that has bothered me for years, but first details that I have discovered about Miss Hyland. I contacted the manager of the Abbey cemetery and she provided me with the following information.
Miss Mary Teresa Hyland aged 84 was interred at The Abbey Cemetery on the December 7th 1971 in grave A-130B. I shall be visiting the grave sometime next week and if there is a head stone, I shall send you a photo. All this has led to an answer to a query that I have had for many years. The resting place of my form teacher, Mary Margaret Rose. Apparently she too was laid to rest at the Abbey and the manager will have details for me next week.
The secondary school was demolished many years ago but the primary school continues to thrive. There are now houses where the secondary school stood.
Hi Perry, Thank you so much for these details. I walked up and down the cemetary in 2009 when I visited, and it is quite possible I missed any stone. Given her family were in Cork I have since assumed she didn't get a headstone. Thanks so much for having a look for it. I'd love to see a photo of the spot. If I get back to that part of the UK I will be able to try again. I have another possible photo of Mollie but the woman is a very young woman so would be even less recognisable to you, if it's her. Thanks also for the explanation of the school buildings. You have absolutely made my day. Thank you.
 
just a thought...as the primary school still exists it maybe worthwhile contacting them to ask where their school archives are kept as there very well could be class photos with teachers that were taken that may include mollie on them

lyn
 
just a thought...as the primary school still exists it maybe worthwhile contacting them to ask where their school archives are kept as there very well could be class photos with teachers that were taken that may include mollie on them

lyn
Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Hello NZFrances, Today,Tuesday, I went back to the Abbey, Erdington to speak to the cemetery manager, Mrs Badger. Mrs Badger kindly showed me to the last resting place of Miss Hyland and Miss Rose. I have taken a photo of the grave site but, sadly, there is no headstone. I can only assume that there was no close family to provide one. Happily for me, Miss Rose is interred in a family grave with her details.
While I was with Mrs Badger, she explained that quite a lot of the old secondary school buildings are still being used by the current owners of the site, Highclare School which is a private school. I do remember that when I last visited around 1972, the science room, the woodwork room and associated corridor had been knocked down. I made the assumption that all the school had disappeared but when I returned to Erdington railway station to return home, I walked along the platform to see if I could see anything of the old school.
Yes I could and I was able to take photos of what is left. I will download them and get them on this site in the next day or two.

Perry
 
Hi Perry, that confirms my belief, as there were no family in Birmingham aside from Mollie. No wonder I couldn't find her. I left my flowers by a statue instead. I look forward to seeing the photos. Thank you so very much. Frances
 
I hope this works, if it does, I will send info on each picture. Perry
 
Hello All. Before my meeting with the Abbey cemetery manager, I spent some time in Erdington library hoping that there would be some mention of St Th0mas's R C S M school in their local studies section. Sadly there was nothing but I think it would be time well spent to see what is in the new Library of Birmingham. That will be my next step. I shall also contact the present owners of the old buildings (Highclare School) in the hope of obtaining permission to look around the old buildings.
 
I hope this works, if it does, I will send info on each picture. Perry
Hi Perry, I am not able to see these. It is so tantalising! Can you see them at your end?
(Email address removed by moderator). If this doesn't work here would you be able to send to me on email? Thank you again.
 
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Hi, I attended from 1961 - 1965 I remember the headmaster,being a Mr Doughty other teachers I remember ,not in order of preference Mr Morgan ,Mrs Wheeler ,Mr Moore ,Mr Harkin ,Mr Burns ,Mr Corrigan, Mr Sims, Mr and Mrs McCarthy . After two years the school changed from a mixed sex school , to an all boys school, there where two streams which I went in and out of, whilst I was there ,hope to come across a class photo from my time there.
 
Welcome Bern. Hope members can turn something up for you. Meanwhile enjoy the forum. Viv.
 
Hi, I attended from 1961 - 1965 I remember the headmaster,being a Mr Doughty other teachers I remember ,not in order of preference Mr Morgan ,Mrs Wheeler ,Mr Moore ,Mr Harkin ,Mr Burns ,Mr Corrigan, Mr Sims, Mr and Mrs McCarthy . After two years the school changed from a mixed sex school , to an all boys school, there where two streams which I went in and out of, whilst I was there ,hope to come across a class photo from my time there.
I was there between 1950 to 1954 and remember well Mr F P Burns, the best headmaster any school could have, Mr Sims (woodworking) Mr McCarthy, A very handsome teacher and a bit of a hero to the girls. Never knew about a Mrs McCarthy, an interesting story there perhaps. All the other teachers mentioned are new to me. There seems to be a bit of a paucity on pupils from the 1950s.
 
Scraping the back of my memory I believe that at least for the period 1952 to 1958 the Senior School associated to the Abbey Church was referred to as "St Thomas Senior School."

"So Fr Wilfrid Hughes, the rector from 1945 to 1950, conceived the idea that St Thomas’s senior school (now designated as a secondary modern and separate from the Abbey Primary) might become a bilateral school and so develop a grammar stream which could include the boys of the Juvenate housed in the Abbey. In this way two problems would be solved at reasonable cost. In July 1950 Fr Hughes was appointed provincial and given the opportunity to put his scheme into practice."

Benedictine History Symposium 2001...

https://www.monlib.org.uk/papers/ebch/2001hodgetts.pdf
 
This thread was begun by Zena58 in 2014, I have merely responded to items where necessary. As far as I am aware, there has never been any restrictions on this thread. If you read all the messages since its inception, most are concerning St. Thomas's Sec. Mod. but comments on the primary school would be accepted without comment and I for one would be happy to read them.
 
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