Recollections of Blaisdon Hall
Easter 2007
Easter Reunion
April 14/15
2007
www.blaisdonbrotherhood.info
Dear Blaisdon Past Pupils & Friends of Blaisdon.
Once
again our Easter Reunion was upon us. Time
goes by so quickly. As usual John Plevey picked me up at
about 9 am on the Friday morning by the M4 motorway intersection in Newport for
our weekend at Blaisdon. It was a
fantastic morning, the sun was shining and we knew we were in for a great
weekend.
We
had a leisurely drive as far as Lydney where we stopped for breakfast; we had
all the time in the world. To save
me having to carry any drinks from home, I bought them at Tesco’s and straight
into John’s car.
When we arrived at the village it was
great to see the place once again. It
was last October that a group of us had gathered together to construct a
Blaisdon Old Boy’s Committee. All
that was in the Christmas Newsletter explaining that it was important to have a
committee to help Charlie with the running of the Association.
As we drove through the village, as the
picture above shows there was work being done on one of the houses; also a
plaque for the ‘best
kept’
village. In the distance on the left
of the picture is the Red Hart Pub. On
this occasion we passed the pub, probably because it was before opening time and
carried on to the Village Hall where we met up with the usual early birds Pat
Young, Mick Grange and Dave Drummey.
We paid a visit to the grave at St
Michael’s church and watered the plants at the grave.
The cemetery is kept so clean and tidy.
It was great to be able to wander along the public footpath, down to the
Lodge Gates and look up at Blaisdon Hall. I
know with many of us our memories come flooding back to us.
Many have mentioned the times in the winter of 1947, when the snow was
thick, the great times they had tobogganing down that very field on the right.
There was a steel fence on both sides of the driveway all the way up to
the
Hall, with a few gaps here and there in
the fence. The
lads who were brave enough would climb
to the top of
what was called the top field and
toboggan down the steep hill trying to position themselves to be in line with
the gaps in the railings, many made it through into the bottom field, to carry
on down to the hedge. Those who
could see that they would not make it would throw themselves off the sledge at
the last moment to avoid contact with the railings. I believe there were a few
broken limbs at some time or other.
We had a few drinks in the Red Hart at
lunchtime. On Friday evening we had a meal in the King Head
Pub before retiring for the evening. On Saturday Charlie took Mike,
Pat and myself for a spin out in the Forest of Dean, then onto Lydney to have a
look at the steam engines. We had a
look around; but were too late for a trip. In
the evening we spent the evening at the Village Hall it was a
great evening the sun had been out all day, we sat outside, soaking up
the sun.
Relaxing outside the
Village Hall on a lovely sunny Saturday Morning 14th April 2007
L/R Pat Young, Mick
Grange, Terry O’Neill, Charlie Calder, Liam Duggan, Eric Nutcher and of course
Charlie Springett, as always, working
Charlie had
set up the Village Hall so that we could continue our meeting and have a few
drinks afterwards. Much was
discussed and for our first meeting. I think it went very well.
PatYoung, John Plevey & Charlie Springett Martin and Nora Cummins and Irene Robertson
at the Jockey Pub
On Sunday Mass was held in the Village
Hall with the village Congregation. After
Mass it was decided that we would all go to a café along side the River Severn
near Newnham, that was the start of problems, a group went to the café and
reported back that it was closed, contact was lost with some so it ended up that
some had a meal in the Red Hart and others went to a pub called The Jockey,
somewhere near Flaxley Abbey. It’s
a lovely little pub out in the countryside.
They all had a Sunday lunch except for me; I have to be careful what I
eat, so I had a pint.
Pictures at the Graveside of the Salesian Past
Pupils, Priests and Brothers
Mick Grange & Liam Duggan
Barny Grace, Charlie Springett & Pat young
_
Here is a photo of our last meeting in Blaisdon. As soon as I get more I will add them to this page.
David Drummey, Gerry Hines & Partner, John Ward and Donald Whelehan at Red Hart for lunch.
John Wilkinson and John Ward seated on Blaisdon Bench at St Michaels. (Old Coggers)
"Thanks to Terry O'Nneill's efforts we now have the above record of a great day"
________________________________________________
Some later News
A Message From John Ward
I have received the sad news from Father
Sean of the death of Gordon Robertson. Gordon
was killed in a motor cycle accident on Wednesday last week.
Gordon was a boy at Blaisdon in 1957-58.
He was also one of contributors of the moving PERSONAL story in our book “A
Tribute to the Salesians of Great Britain”.
Fr.
Sean received the new from John O’Driscoll who has kept in touch with
Gordon’s family.. Gordon has been caring for his wife who has cancer for the
last few years. Please keep Gordon
and his family in your prayers, especially his wife Betty, who will find this a
dreadful loss of a wonderful husband and Carer.
When details of Gordon’s funeral are
known these will be added to the website.
Click here for full story.
==============================================================
This is a small snippet of an article that was in Michael
McKenna’s
local paper, the West
Briton 07.06.07.
He was rightly so proud of it, but a little reluctant in his thought that
we might like to join him in his joy and pleasure.
You know how the last three lines of the Salesian
School Song, goes:
“And may thy sons hereafter
And
may thy sons hereafter
Bring
Honour to thy name”
The following article is a true
reflection of this sentiment, being put into fine practice by a Blaisdon
Old Boy, Michael Mc Kenna
and his compatriots:
By
Jeff Reines
250,000 reasons for tiny group to be mighty proud
A small group of volunteers are planning
a huge party after raising a massive £250,000.
They started as a well-meaning but
inexperienced group of do-gooders meeting in the front room of founding
chairman Michael McKenna,
hoping to help out a charity for vulnerable neighbours.
But now the proud members of the Falmouth
Support Group of Cornwall Care are
calling on everyone who has helped out over the past 16 years to join them in
celebrating their remarkable achievement.
One founder member, Jane Frapwell, said;
“The whole idea of the celebration is not a fund raising event but just to get
together as many as possible of the people who have helped us over the years
from the Falmouth area.
Click here to see the whole article in the Library section of this Website.