Peter Brocklesby

I have meant to get in touch for some time but with a family wedding and birthdays, the year is going fast.

I realise that by the time you receive this, the Blaisdon Summer Reunion will have been held but one of my sons has his birthday so I will visit him in Liverpool. His long engagement has ended and he is struggling to come to terms with life without his fiancé.

I have tried to stay in touch with Blaisdon and the Old Boys Association but as life gets more hectic it is easy to overlook opportunities to keep in contact.

I was at Blaisdon from 1961-63. I left and went straight into the Army as an Army Apprentice. I kept in touch with Blaisdon. I left the Army in 1972 to get married and we have four sons. We got married and lived in St Helens. My job moved me to Birmingham where our first two sons were born. We later moved to York. When my Father-in-law became ill we moved to Lancashire and have been in Lytham-St-Anns since 1975. Two more sons were born in Blackpool.

On several family holidays, we called in at Blaisdon and saw Father George Hilton who was running the Old Boys Association. We also used to see Father Maguire who I think was doing Parish Work in The Forest of Dean.

I had a succession of sales jobs. I missed the Army and joined the TA. When the law changed to allow mobilisation of the TA to support the Regular Army, I went to Bosnia for 13 months from end 1995 to early 1997. We celebrated our Silver Wedding in April 1997. Sadly my wife died in July 1997.

I went back to Bosnia for 8 months in 1998 and returned to the TA in 1999. I worked on full time attachment to the Army until 2002. I then worked on ship security across Europe and in 2005 started work for a security equipment manufacturer near Milton Keynes.

The strain of fortnightly visits to Milton Keynes for meetings and work from South Wales to Scotland caught up with me. I left in March 2009 to try and sort out a heart problem. I have taken time off since then to improve my health and hopefully will look for an easier job at the end of the year for my last few years until retirement.

It has been hectic. The youngest of my sons was the first to get married. We all went to Poland in June for his wedding in a wonderful Catholic Church. His Polish wife lives and works in England and her mother is also living and working here.

Many of the family could not afford time and cost to go to Poland so we had a second wedding reception in Lancashire in mid July after they returned from honeymoon. This allowed a lot of the family to take part in their celebrations.

Two of my sons live in London. The eldest has just finished a three year fulltime contract working with CAFOD at their Head Office. A third son lives in Liverpool and the youngest who has just got married, lives in the same town as I do.

In addition to holiday visits to Blaisdon and Christmas cards, I visited the retirement home at Thornleigh House next to the Salesian College in Bolton. From 1992-95,1 did a full time degree course at Bolton University. I visited the retirement home and met Fr Bernard Higgins who was Rector when I was at Blaisdon and Brother Tom Caulfield. He was the first person I met when I was handed over to the Salesians at Manchester Piccadilly railway station in September 1961. I was sad to read his obituary as it would have been an honour to attend his funeral.

When Old Boys were asked to confirm their interest in receiving newsletters, I confirmed my interest and sent a letter to Fr Sean-Murray in December 2004 with -contribution to cover Association Fee and donation towards Association costs. I have Membership Card Number 0030. I do not know whether I have contributed since or whether I have had a request to pay further Annual Association Fees.

I enclose a cheque for £40 to cover Association Fees. Any surplus can go towards Association costs. Please let me know what method is used to collect Annual Fees so I do not forget again.

I will try and set aside some time to visit the Website and maybe renew contact with former pupils from my era.

************************************************************************************************