St James School Burnt Oak

There was an 80 year anniv 13.7.14 and I just happened to be in the area. I remember Cronolly Kilrane (who left about 1969 for a post in W. Ireland, Simpson Mc Dermott Benham and Tom Mc Nicholas who is 90 and at the reunion.

I to attended Annunciation1942-1948.St Thomas's Stanmore 1948-1949 and then St James until 1952. I was at the reunion held in Colindale 2-014 but did not realise Tom Mc Nicholas was 90yrs.but there again he was at St.James when my brother John attended there and he was 6 years older than me.I met him again in Jan 2015 at my sister-in-laws funeral at the Annunciation.My further comments are I disagree with most of the negative remarks that are made about the staff there.Teresa O'Sullivan.

I was at St James School, Burnt Oak from 1959-1962.
Can remember Tony Rice, Danny Weadick, Leslie Quilleau?,
James Shannanan, Henrick Hebber, Richard Hanratty,
James McCristal, Victor Tong, Bob Chandler, Len Moult.
etc etc.

Where are you all now. What did you do with your lives?
Did we ever have a reunion that I missed?

Still kept in touch with Mick Brady, and going to his 70th Birthday Bash in July!

I remember Danny Weadick, Richard Hanratty but not much else. Like others I moved to Australia
Jerry Carroll

I attended St James from 1955 to July 1959 when my family moved to Australia, I loved every day of it and had a great time. I remember Sister Catherine, Sister James, Sister Rose and her Choir, fellow students Matt Quin (signed by Spurs) Sean Murphy, Danny O'Mahony and Gloria Wilson, the best looking girl at the school. Loved it!
Peter Armstrong

Hello Teresa Keech.I too attended those schools about the same period as yourself. I also attended St Josephs at Mill Hill. My family then went abroad in 1953 and I returned to the UK in 1956 and started an apprenticeship in Maidenhead I wonder if you would remember me there .
Fernando.

Went to St. Thomas' and St. James' 1953 1959. Art at St. James' climbed through the window of the Convent library,,,, Mass was celebrated in the quad. The nun who taught biology used to tell stories instead of teaching us, Choir,,Messiah and St. Matthew Passion. Anthony Pellegrino played the piano to accompany practice. Aylesford Friary was always a great day out. Remember John Coyle singing Others..Alex Hesketh, Michael Lennon, Brenda Farrell, Linda Greenaway
School life ...no rose-coloured specs!!! Of its time Mary and Katherine Walsh??

Brenda DeThabrew ( Abrahams )

Really weird reading all the comments about St James. My name is Michael Reilly and I attended St James from 1966 to 1971. Highlights for me were playing in goal for the third, fourth, and fifth year football teams at the same time. Also being in Father Dangerfields Pueri Cantores choir which went to Rome in 1968 and sang for Pope Paul V1.
Had my fair share of run ins with Sr Katherine and Mr Enwright who really enjoyed punishing us boys
Probably not the best academic institution in the world but that aside I enjoyed my time there. Contemporaries would have been Eamon McKinney, Renato Cattini, Chris Curran (RIP) Mick Freeman ,Lawrence Kavanagh, Mick Heffernan.
John Roger's, Elaine Jackson , Christine Conlon( who I married and still married to) Bernadette McGettigan, and many others I cannot name here for fear of boring you all. Greetings and good wishes to all of you and any one who remembers me.

Dear Michael Reilly
I was very interested in your piece about st James, I can relate to a few of the names you mentioned Lawrence , Chris(rip) mick and Eamon, also pueri cantores choir run by Father Dangerfield, Do you happen to remember being on Tvl on Christmas Day at Stanmore orthapedic hospital singing Handels messiah and of all things lily the pink with scaffold. I am John Kelleher I don’t suppose you remember? Many thanks john

Hi, Both Michael Reilly & John Kelleher, I've read your recent articles of 16/1/22 & 11/4/23 with great interest, as I clicked on your messages & recognised staff names as well as fellow students.
I was @St Thomas's from 1965-66 & St James from 1966-73, fondly remembering Mr Vaulkenberg & his love of Poetry, Charge of the Light Brigade, Gilbert & Sullivan & his hand neatly folded into his jacket, perhaps his caricature of Nelson or even Napolean. Mr Cronolly's long dictated History notes, Mr Enright's Latin declensions, Mrs McDonald's Chemistry classes, just loved her accent & Mr Riley's Physics 'mind gymnastics' which always tied me up in knots, Mr Keegan's English class with his 'don't make mountains out of molehills, plus Sr Paul talking to her plants & 'Horace' in Biology. Yes there was Sr Catherine, Sr Veronica, Sr Raymunda, Sr Eugene & countless others as well as other lay staff, Mr McSharry(Geog), Mr Chandler, Mr Benham (Mtlwrk), Mr O'Sullivan(Wdwrk), Mr McNicholas (Econ), Mr Atkinson(Maths)
I wanted to trace my class group in which Michael Heffernan was in & then I saw you mention his name re 'Football' & saw a news item about Wembley Stadium & an interview with Gabrielle Heffernan from the National Football Museum & wondered if there was a possible link to Michael Heffernan.
Perhaps we can get in touch, if at all possible, not sure how that works but here's my email robcorrea21@yahoo.co.uk.
Take Care to you both plus to all Students&Staff from our era.

Hi Robin and everybody
My experience of st Thomas and st james is identical to you 66-71.
Most of my classmates were from Cricklewood and Willesden including Richard Wilson, John Horgan, Eugene O’Shea,Jim Mullen,Lawrence kavanagh ,Jim Murray, Jim Durkin,John Paraskeeva,Michael whelan, Pat o Mahoney, and a few from Harrow inc John Dorling,Richard Glen and Kevin Fagan.
I remember mr enright was a very strict Latin teacher,Mr Cronolly (rugby forward) where you had to learn History parrot fashion and recite it at the top of the class if picked and you did learn it otherwise you were in serious trouble, He had an exceptional pass rate at o level so it worked.
Mr Chandler was a very amiable man and people wanted to Learn from him, I think geography teacher.
Mr Atkinson maths teacher, leather jacket and part time mini cab driver, who sent people down the road for cigarettes, Be careful of Sister Veronica he used to say.
I think there was a teacher called McNamara with. Moustache, who couldn’t control the class, It was bedlam at times.
When I arrived at St James in 66/67 it was very very strict and there were prefects, one who stuck in my mind was Standen. After that the discipline seemed to dissipate coinciding with Sister Katherine retiring probably.
Does anybody remember pueri cantores choir(father Dangerfields)who went to Rome to sing for the pope in 1968, but no one except me it seems can remember being on Tv on Christmas Day (recorded) singing Handels messiah and also Lily the pink with Scaffold of all things. It was at Stanmore Orthapedic Hospital .Anyone remember that?

Hi Everyone,
I am Paul Clements
I was at St Thomas’s School in Marsh Lane from 1973 in Miss McHughs class, and then Mr Edmund Valkenburghs class.
From 75 we went to St James’ On Orange Hill Rd, Burnt Oak.
I still see Eamon Daly, Kevin Powers, Richard Vella, and Jonathan Coburn.
My memories of Enright, Sister Imelda, at St Thomas are tinged with their attitude to teaching.
Similarly at St James, Sister Jude was a little love, but hardly the brightest bulb in the box. Sister Basil, an eighty year old bitter nun trying to teach Merchant of Venice, or Mayor of Casterbridge, or Brighton Rock, all three having central characters in a love story, could be described as negligent at best.
Sister Veronica, (Vera) was so criel, as was Mr Kiley. Cleary was awful to boot.
I dont have any really happy memories of school, and only progressed once id left in 1978.
My e mail is C13MNS@gmail and id love to hear from anyone in 5B 1978.

I was at St Thomas from 1967 to 69 and then St James to 74, I remember Eileen lucid Mary Tarpey the Davey twins,, Gerrard Wharton and rosemary drennan, Eamon horgan