SOUTHWARK
Our
Association continues to thrive despite some upheaval in recent
times. Last September, Notre Dame Southwark celebrated 150 years
of continuous education for girls. Many of our members attended
the Mass in St. George’s Cathedral celebrated by Michael
Bowen, Archbishop Emeritus of Southwark. The cathedral was packed
and it was wonderful to see the present pupils taking on various
roles with confidence and efficiency. The SNDA made its contribution
to the liturgy, with committee members past and present taking
part in the readings, the bidding prayers and the Offertory
procession. Afterwards, there was a reception in the school
and the SNDA manned the souvenir shop, selling a wide variety
of commemorative merchandise. Proceeds from the day were divided
among three Notre Dame educational projects: Notre Dame Nursery/Primary
School in Nigeria, Fe y Alegria School in Peru and the Kroonstad
Education Project in South Africa.
After the business meeting at our AGM in January, we watched
the film, “These are Your Children” which will be
remembered by many former pupils of Notre Dame schools all over
the United Kingdom. Sr. Margaret Wears and Sr. Anne Marie then
spoke to us about their very different experiences as novices.
For our St. Julie Day gathering on April 9th, we had a talk
on the life of the Southwark martyr, St. John Rigby. This well-researched
presentation, delivered with both erudition and humour was given
by our own treasurer, Moira Metcalf. We had a short procession
of palms and Palm Sunday Mass celebrated by our chaplain, Fr.
Rudolf Loewenstein O.P. Sadly, our acting President, Pamela
Loughlin announced her resignation.
The second SNDA trip to Namur took place from 9th to 11th June.
Six members accompanied by three husbands enjoyed a very pleasant
weekend. They visited the sisters, seeing the convent and the
chapel containing St. Julie’s relics. They were also given
a tour of the famous Hugo d’Oignies treasure. During the
visit, they were also able to arrange for a new plaque to be
placed on the chapel wall. This is to commemorate the school’s
celebration of 150 years of teaching girls in Southwark and
is a gift to the school from the SNDA.
Our first theatre trip, organised by Paula Watson, is to be
to Wyndham’s Theatre to see ‘Sunday in the Park with
George’. Paula arranged for 20 tickets and all were snapped
up very quickly. We are hoping for such outings to be a regular
feature of our calendar.
Mentioning our calendar, we are planning to move our celebration
for St. Julie Day to later in the year, just after the school
starts again. This is in response to our members who felt that
the AGM in January and St. Julie Day in April were too close
together and they then had nothing to look forward to for the
rest of the year. There will be the added advantage that the
new date will be very soon after the BFNDA Conference and those
Southwark members who attend will be able to report to the others
while everything is fresh in their minds.
In conclusion, following the departure of Pamela Loughlin we
have re-organised the Southwark committee. Diane Donovan is
the new president with sterling support from Marie Tisi as Secretary.
Diane
Donovan
...........................................................................................................................................
“A
Happy Place”
Southwark
Notre Dame
High School
1855 –
2005
It was in
the autumn of 2004 that Sr. Anne Marie, Head of Southwark Notre
Dame, asked if I would write a history of the school to accompany
the 150th Jubilee celebrations in 2005. It was with considerable
trepidation that I tentatively agreed, but all my anxiety disappeared,
when I met Sr. Jean Bunn at the Provincial Archive Office. Her
provision of box after box of archive material about Southwark
made my task both easy and enjoyable. It was like being a child
in a sweet shop! Sr. Jean’s kindness and encouragement
was an important factor in the completion of the project. Strangely
the hardest part to write covered the years when I was a pupil
at the school (1945 – 1953) and the years when I was a
member of staff (1960 – 1989) The completed book was the
work of graphic designers, who polished the whole project with
photographs and clever graphics, so that the end product was
ready for the celebrations in September 2005.
“A
Happy Place”
Written
by Angela Parsliffe
Designed
By Natalie Rees
Coloured
photography by TheunisStofberg
Printed
in England by The Midas Press
Price
£10.00
Obtainable
from the school
Notre
Dame School
118
St George’s Rd
London
SE1 6EX
info@bfndn.org
