Bothenhampton, Dorset

Visitation Convent Bridport

Since my blog of 2007 concerning my time as a boarder at the Visitation Convent school 1942-1947, I have noted with interest that other former pupils (though not from the years I was there) have commented on their experiences of the place. Mostly, their memories are sad and bitter ones. It has made me think back again at my years there.... [more]

The Convent in Bridport

I was disturbed to read the Memory posted in early September from a contemporary about our common primary school, Bridport Visitation Convent. It was reprinted in the Bridport News of October 1st so needs to be balanced I feel. That gentleman clearly doesn't remember his time there with relish but I wonder why he didn't put his schooldays into the context... [more]

VISITATION CONVENT

I was sent to the Visitation Convent at the age of 6 and was there for four terrible years. Like others who have written their memories of their time at the school, for me it was a very severe, cruel, harsh enviroment, devoid of any love or affection from the nuns. The punishments were frequent, for messing my pants or wetting... [more]

The Convent of the Visitation

I was a boarder there for about a year aged about nine or ten in about 1957. It was the unhappiest period of my life before or since. I don’t recall a moment of kindness, sympathy, or humanity from any of the nuns. As a lonely rejected child I received nothing from them but harshness, punishments, and cruelty. And I was... [more]

Convent of the Visitation - Bridport - Dorset

CHAPTER TWO

School Years - Convent of the Visitation 1939-1945

One’s school years leave an indelible impression on one for good or bad. My views over these years in this regard, have modified considerably. The older you get, the more you tend to look at your youth with rose tinted glasses. So in relating to my school years... [more]

Visitation Convent, Bridport

I was saddened to read the blogs of boys that had such an unhappy experience of days as a boarder. I was there from 1951 until 1957 and whilst I also remember the less than idyllic food and discipline, I tend to believe that was a reflection of the societal norms of the immediate post-war period. Are we in danger of... [more]

The Visitation Convent Bridport Dorset.

For unruly behaviour, I was delivered to boarding school at the age of 4, after enjoying wonderful times on a Devon farm. I was taken to the Convent by my parents in an Austin 7. I remember crying and staring at the red and yellow floor tiles while Mother Superior Sister Agnes Francis and my future form mistress, Sister Anne, promised... [more]

Boarding at the Visitation Convent

My brother and I attended the Convent as boarders from 1958 to 1961 after the death of our mother. We were pretty traumatised on our first day there but were gently looked after by the wonderful Sister Edith. I later remember serving at her funeral. The discipline could be quite harsh at times and I do recall the infants being forced... [more]