Cardinal Langley school, Middleton

[Bugs Dunny]

Having recently joined the forum, I was surprised to find that although there are memories of many schools here, Cardinal Langley is not one of them.


In the 1960s Cardinal Langley was a boys' grammar school, and drew its intake from a huge area - Bacup and Droylsden were among the more far-flung outposts, but the majority were from Middleton itself and the rest of North Manchester, Salford, Rochdale, Oldham etc. I came in on the special coach they laid on from Prestwich, as there were no buses from one side of Heaton Park to the other in the 60s. My mate Pete Campion and I formed our very own smokers' corner on the back row. The driver could clearly see us, but fortunately never reported us. I seem to remember he also owned the off-licence on the corner of Bury New Rd. and Scholes Lane, next to the Friendship Inn, and the bass player in the band I was in at the time, Nick Carr, went out with his daughter for a while. Can't for the life of me remember his or her name though..


I was at CL from 1962 - 1968. Of the teaching staff at the time, Eric Hester and David Levaggi later became teaching colleagues at St. Peter's (now St. Monica's) in Prestwich. Others I remember are Gerry Wilde, who sadly committed suicide, Austen Flint - a truly inspirational and gifted teacher - and Messrs. O'Keefe (chemistry), Murphy (Latin), the brothers Bates (Bully and Wee Willie - both maths), Crawford and McCarron (both French), Walker (music), Miss Jones (physics), Manning (art), and the head of the art department. I can't remember his real name but we all called him Fudge - no idea why. Also Gerry Dean and Doc Ilich, my first German and Russian teachers respectively. They must have done a half-decent job, as I went on to get a joint honours degree in both languages


Then there were the Christian Brothers. Brother Damien was my first headmaster, followed by Brother Anthony. I also remember Brothers Joseph, Patrick and Ignatius. Brother Joseph caught me smoking in the toilets once, which resulted in a hefty and very painful whacking from Brother Damien.


There was a school reunion in 1997, which I found out about by a very circuitous route in those pre-internet days, or at least before the internet was in common use. Amazingly, Steve Coogan, already a huge star even in those days, turned up and did a routine on the stage featuring a wickedly accurate impression of Doc Ilich. The Doc was there himself - he must have been in his eighties by then - but he took it all in good part.


I remember my old classmates John Kennedy, John Denny, Pete Byrne and Billy Lynch turned up, but there were more than 5 of us in the pub later, so my apologies if you were there and I've forgotten. These days we would all exchange email addresses, but back then we didn't have them.


I was a September baby, so I was one of the oldest in my year, but it's a sobering thought that almost all my old classmates will either be 65 already or within the next few months. We should definitely get our bus passes and senior railcards out for another get-together.


I know I have some old class photos knocking around under a pile of dust somewhere. I'll try to dig them out and post them.

[celeste]

Most of the schools are in the Old Manchester section, you can post the above in there as well if you want to

[John Paul]

I went to St Dominic Savio on Mount Road Middleton until it merged with Cardinal langley High School, I remember there was only Brother David There when I was there and he was great fun, a bit of a rebel as they go but the school turned into just another average secondry school on our arrival and the two never blended well. I ended up hating it. Corpral Punishment was still alive in the 80s which I found myself being subjected too more and more frequently just for small little things like being late or not doing homework. I decided I didnt want to go to a place where the teachers enjoyed hurting the kids and walked out oneday never to reurn thankfully

[Bobbins]

Hiya,


The coach driver was called Terry (my Dad) and his daughter (my sister) Susan...


Kind regards, Michael (Gorman) - I remember Nick & Dom Carr - and you from St Pete's.

[algebrascare]

Just found the 'Bugs Dunny' May 3, 2016 post – must admit it brought back many memories.  Unfortunately, with the passage of time, some memories may be a tad wide of the mark.  Please forgive me were I to have mis-remembered or merged separate memories into one.
I also started at CL in 1962 but left in '67 as I only achieved three o' level passes; one being woodwork. Hadn't really intended doing woodwork, metalwork being my preferred subject; however, our intended teacher (Mr West, I believe) was killed in a climbing accident, in Saddleworth, and was not replaced (as Wikipedia would say 'citation needed').
Remember my apprehension, on day one of year one, at going to 'big school' which was so far away from home (two bus journeys), turned to fear on day three of term one when Mr Bates (Bully) introduced class 1C to Algebra - 'what is this sorcery, the man is using letters.....?'  Three days into secondary education and I'd already lost the plot. Really struggled with Maths, and others, in that first term and was probably lucky to stay in the C stream at the 'Xmas re-shuffle'.
Found Mr Bates, and most of the teachers, extremely intimidating, and retreated to the back row for his lessons. He used to refer to us as 'the back row boys'.  Our logic was 'the further away, the better'. Of course we hadn't factored into our logic the well-aimed, flying board-duster. Of Mr Bates I will say that, once I was over my initial fear, he was an extremely patient man: frequently turned up at the staff room door requesting clarification of some point I had not grasped – was never refused help.  I continue to hold quite fond memories.
Also remember, with affection, Mr Wilde who (again, my recollection of the facts may be a bit awry) threw himself under a car on Queensway / Kingsway, Rochdale (again, citation needed).  He was obviously a tortured soul, but had that knack of getting us fully engaged with the subject.
Brother Patrick also had an infectious enthusiasm. He did, however, give me a bang round the head for something I was doing wrong whilst he was dictating to us.  To this day still don't know what I was doing wrong. He did apologise and I forgave – thought he was a good guy.
Brother Joseph, our French teacher – totally different style of teaching: quiet firmness coupled with an eagerness to dish out detention in the form of 'catching up class'.
It wasn't all 'rose-tinted spectacles' though. Had five years of staying below the radar trying not to be noticed, consequences of which could be painful. However, did occasionally fail: Mr Bolan, anyone remember Mr Bolan? - German. Rather stupidly made twelve mistakes in my German homework corrections, for which I was awarded twelve smites of the slipper. Did actually think, at the time, what a caring fellow Mr B was because he split my punishment: 6 strokes at the start of the lesson and 6 strokes at the end. Can still remember, at 70, the warm feeling post-thrashing.
Brother Damian – what a tyrant! He knew how to keep five / six hundred adolescent boys in line; respect to him. Managed to not to come on his radar too often, thankfully. Hell, how could you deal with all that testosterone ? Worked well in the sixties, wouldn't work now, of course.
I have no hangovers from CL, just look back with ambivalence: what a fantastic education was on offer, unfortunately, for me, I did not fully take the opportunity – my bad.
Fifty odd years on memories still strong.  Occasionally drive past CL (don't live in the area any more, but condemned to supporting RAFC) and get a spike of nostalgia: the bus stop to Rochdale. If no supervising influence present there was something resembling a rugby (15) maul; some bus drivers (route 17) would just drive past when they saw the throng.
Know guys who have been left with negatives about CL. For me the negatives are to my account.
Nostalgia, what!

 

 

 

[TonyJ]

I went to CL from 1971. I went to the reunion in 1977 were Steve Coughan did a spot but I remember him having a go at Brother Thomas who was an evil headmaster in my day. I was surprised to see Doc Ilich that day who I remember as a decent bloke. There was a Brother Joseph who taught pottery and a Brother David who I still have photos of on a 1996 school trip to Wildersville in Switzerland when he was dancing with the female owner of the hotel with a big daft grin on his face.