Fond Lifechanging Memories

A Memory of Monks Kirby.

I remember the Convent of Mercy as one of my fondest memories. I boarded there from the young age of five until I was eleven. Some of my best memories were of the summers when we made long daisy chains with all the daisies on the front lawn, long walks to the spinney in the early fall, May Day, and garden fetes and playing hide and seek in the closets on the second floor. I remember Sister Mary Rose (she was everyones favourite nun), Sister Bernard and watching the big clock with roman numerals while I practiced my hour of music (she taught me piano/ and terrified many of us back then because she was stern). I never forgot Mother Superior; she loomed over you like a towering beacon, I was only 4' something, so it certainly seemed that way to me at the time. I remember lining up in the dining hall awaiting the dreaded spoonfull of Milk of Magnesia which kept everyone regular (ha ha) but also getting to choose sweets from the Tuck shop cupboard. I remember when I was taken into the playroom to meet all the other children, and making a very special friend there, Jacqueline Greaves. I was not Catholic when I attended the Convent, but I attended mass (given in Latin) everyday and twice on Sunday, and remember wearing those triangular black lace veils and wishing I could go up to the altar and accept communion. I remember the big elderberry tree to the right of the property, that me and my cohorts used to pick the berries and eat them, they were so good. I also remember the dormitory; twenty beds all lined up, and the nun had her little room within the dorm, we used to call it her cupboard. I remember whispering at night and the sister would come out and walk around the room to see who was awake/talking, and we would all lie very still with our eyes closed until she went back into the cupboard. I also remember the ruler on the knuckles/or standing for what seemed like hours to us, when we got caught talking or reading under the bedcovers at night when we were supposed to be sleeping. There was also a dormitory with six beds in it across the hall, it was for the students who were in their last year, they had a feast of pop and candy and crisps etc smuggled in their suitcases under their beds - no monitoring happenened for them. This was a sad time for me because I had a lot of happy memories there.
Does anyone remember having to 'flip the mattresses' every month ?..they sure were heavy! I was there the year that we all said goodbye to the basins in the bathroom and got sinks with taps and running water. Thank you to the sisters, who gave me a good grounding in my faith and for enabling me to give that to my children.