Christmas Newsletter 2009

It was great to meet a goodly number of you attending the Annual Reunion at the end of August. The presence of some new faces was encouraging and a hopeful sign for the future. Bro. Joe Adams was pleasantly surprised to meet four or five of his very own past pupils. I’ve had the occasional contact with John Sharpe over the years, so it was great to meet him face to face after thirty two years. That’s the magic of the Past Pupils Association.

Sadly, some familiar faces were unavoidably absent, people like Norman Taylor who has been one of the great stalwarts over so many years. However, Norman was present, together with six or seven other Old Boys, for the funeral of Barney Grace. Their presence was much appreciated by the family and the people of the Parish of St. Augustines’ at Matson, Gloucester.

I con-celebrated Requiem Mass and spoke at the funeral of John Plevey in Cardiff. John was a most loyal Old Boy and his family were comforted by your prayers and messages of sympathy. Old Faithful, Charlie Springett, joined me for the interment of Barney Graces’ ashes in the Salesian grave at Blaisdon.

Your prayers are welcome for the repose of the soul of Ron Smy who was the first lay- Bursar in Blaisdon Hall. Fr. Aidan joined me for Ron’s funeral at The Sacred Heart Church, Cheltenham.

Just walk through ASDA and you will be in no doubt that Christmas is coming! It is a time to get in touch especially with companions and staff who are unwell and no longer able to get to Reunions. Use the internet, phone, snail mail and even visits to each other so as maintain the contacts of long-standing friendships and loyalty to our Association.

If you are on the Internet, get in touch with www.sdb.org There you will find the very latest news of the Salesian Family in the world, including all the wonderful messages from the Rector Major. (There is a direct Link to the SDB website from the Links section in our Blaisdon website)

You will all be remembered in our thoughts and prayers at Christmas. I wish you good health, happiness and I know you will celebrate well with your family and friends. Happy Christmas with my blessing and prayers.

Fr. Sean Murray and all at Bootle.

P.S. I led the Remembrance Service at the Blaisdon War Memorial on Sunday, 8th November. I was greatly moved when the names of our Old Boys who died in the Second World War were read out. May They Rest In Peace.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE...

I will just echo the words of our Association’s Chaplain, and wish everyone a truly Happy Christmas. I extend a heartfelt and special greeting to all those who have lost a loved one during the past year as they will be experiencing their first Christmas in bereavement. May their sorrow be mitigated by recalling past happy times and the sharing of joyous memories. Rather than write a piece on Christmas, I hope you will allow me to indulge my love of a particular poem and share it with you. It is called

The Burning Babe

As I in hoary Winter’s night stood
shivering in the snow,

Surpris’d I was with sudden heat
which made my heart to glow:
And lifting up a fearful eye
to view what fire was near:
A pretty babe all burning bright
did in the air appear

Who, scorched with excessive heats,
such floods of tears did shed,
As though his floods should quench
his flames with which his tears were fed.
"Alas!" quoth he, "but newly born
in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts
or feel my fire but I.

My faultless breast the furnace is,
the fuel wounding thorns:

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke,
the ashes shames and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on,
and Mercy blows the coals;
The metal in this furnace wrought
are men’s defiled souls:
For which, as now on fire,
I am to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath
to wash them in my blood".
With this he vanish ’d out of sight
and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I called unto mind
that it was Christmas Day.

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GREETING TO THE NEW

OWNER OF BLAISDON HALL

On behalf of The Salesian School Blaisdon Hall Past Pupils Association (1935-1995), I write to welcome you to your new home and hope that you and your family will be very happy. You are assured that your privacy will be observed by our Members. As a gesture of goodwill, I am enclosing a copy of our Association’s latest Newsletter.

Yours Faithfully.

Tony Brady President, Blaisdon Salesian Past Pupils Association

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National Appeal

The Rules of our Association (Section 2:4) bind us to support The National Federation Salesian Mission objectives to help the young and poor of the world. This year, the target is to raise £12.000 to support The African Scholarship Appeal. In the past, Blaisdon Old boys have responded generously to benefit Malaria infected and water scarce areas in Africa. However, there is a shortfall of £6.000 on this year’s target. I am therefore appealing to all our Members to respond to my call to contribute to this Appeal. I am particularly concerned that due to the shortfall, a number of young students will be excluded from Scholarship advantages and the chances for progress in their education dashed. I pledge £100.00 to stimulate further giving: not because I can afford it - like most of our Members, I exist on a fixed income and still pay Income Tax. I believe totally in the purpose of The Appeal and its area of benefit. Please make out cheques to "Salesians of Don Bosco" to maximise 28% Gift Aid Tax relief. Thank You.

Tony.

The successful fund-raising Appeals - over 30 years - of former Presidents:

John Farmer RIP, Ron Coleman, Peter Crotty, Len Carter, Mario Marco, David Metcalfe, and Charlie Springett are acknowledged.

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A New Secretary

When I offered to be Secretary and asked about the Job Description, our President said there is none as such other, than being Keeper of The Register of Members. He added that, after one year, I could define the job description and that the service was entirely unpaid. So since November 2009, I keep the Register. Currently we have:

223 Members, 54 Friends and Associates and 25 Salesian Priests and lay-Brothers. From this number The Association claims 12 described as fully paid up Members. As Membership is voluntary, there will be no naming nor shaming. From the computerised data, I have extracted for your information an interesting finding: Break-down in years attending Blaisdon Hall on our current Membership:

List of 223...

1935 - 1939 = 09 1940 - 1949 = 43

1950 - 1959 = 46 1960 - 1969 = 42

1970 - 1979 = 40 1980 - 1989 = 24

1990 -1995 = 07 Total: 221

(2 Members dates not known).

I have completed this Mail-Out by purchasing envelopes, mail merging stick-on labels, postage stamping and sealing hundreds of envelopes. I also stood in for the President at The National Federation Meeting in October.

Thanks to my family for help. Happy Christmas.

Wayne Howe - Blaisdon Secretary

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WEBMASTER'S FEEDBACK

	http://www.blaisdonbrotherhood.info/
Favicon.ico

I would like to wish all Readers of our Blaisdon Old Boys’ Website a Very Happy Christmas and a better New Year in 2010.

I would also like to tender my heartfelt thanks to all our Contributors, none more prolific than our New President, Tony Brady. The life of our Website is dependent on the continual flow of news and information, especially about our key readers, The Blaisdon Old Boys and their families; for whom this Website was created on 28 March 2006.

Our Website is full of information and currently contains 1851 pages and 1286 pictures. So there is much for you to enjoy and reminisce about over the Christmas Holiday period.

**See below for one gratifying message from a former Blaisdon Rector, Fr. Brian Jerstice SDB, now out in Tanzania in Africa.

I would urge Blaisdon Old Boys who are not yet aware of the Blaisdon Website to take a look, to keep up with Events being arranged for all of you during the year (See Latest News). For those without PC access at home a good option is to use your public Libraries who offer free use of the World Wide Web. The address of our Website (just the lower case text) is in the heading. The Blaisdon Badge is included in the response you will receive. This is known as a Favicon icon, which most big organisations use to promote themselves. I felt it right we should have our distinctive badge displayed with pride.

The Blaisdon Website is the only website address you need, for all your Salesian Website viewing, as you will find in the LINKS chapter in the left-hand column, a link to all the other Salesian Websites you might be interested in. These include: The GB National Federation of Past Pupils, The GB Salesians own website and the same for the World organisations of Salesians and Past Pupils. Just click on LINKS section and you will see what I mean.

If you have not yet offered any material for inclusion on our Blaisdon Website I look forward to, hopefully, receiving material from you in 2010.

**Dear John,

Joy in the Lord! Just a quickie to keep in touch and to say thanks for all the info, most of which I find interesting and a remedy for any homesickness! The article "Salesians" from the Catholic Herald (posted yesterday) is now on two notice boards (staff and boys) in our school here. Hope

to see you next time round. Very best wishes to you and all in your info circle. God bless. Brian Also, Alastair Bourne in New Zealand responds, immediately, to any News Items that are added.

Best wishes to all,

John Ward, Web Manager, Blaisdon Past Pupils' Association Website