Sisters Of Mercy In The 1950s

A Memory of Stanford-le-Hope.

I had the great misfortune to attend St Josephs Primary Roman Catholic School, Stanford-Le-Hope in the early to mid 1950s. The nuns there were far too fond of wielding bamboo canes split halfway down the middle when punishing children as young as 5. What was really bad besides being punished yourself with these canes for incredibly minor misdemeanours, was watching a small 5 year old little girl who had just started school being whacked hard on the palms. I still know the name of this little girl, the head nun who punished her and the nun who gratuitously sent children off to be caned for the most trivial of incidents. I wish I could still report these nasty vile women but they may well have passed on. Some memories I'm afraid are really not nice and I shiver when I go anywhere near that school. I'm sure the modern school is infinitely better than what we experienced thank God.