A short happy stay at Cottesmore

I started in Cottesmore in, I guess, 1958/9. If I started school in 1957 at St Martha’s Convent in Rottingdean, it must have been either 1958 or 1959. I remember Mr Shearstone well. I actually went to his home because my father was the doctor in the Public Health office in Hove who used to visit the schools in the town (as it then was actually). Dad and Mr Shearstone mixed socially hence why I would visit his house. I can’t remember if he had any children (Mr Shearstone that is, not my father).

A strange memory

I remember Mr Joyce and I think there was a red-haired teacher called Miss Gordon. Being red-haired myself I identified with her. For the life of me, I can’t remember the names of any of the other children who were at Cottesmore at the time. (Well, apart from my brother Fergus, of course.) One strange memory I have is of finding used cartridges half-buried in the ground. I don’t know if the place was used as some sort military base during the war. I also remember picking up acorns in the autumn.

Into the hands of the Jesuits!

I don’t know how long I was at Cottesmore as I left to go to Xaverian College in Brighton in 1960 or 1961. That would have been my secondary school except my father died unexpectedly in 1962 and my mother took me and my three younger brothers back to Ireland where I fell into the hands of the Jesuits! What memories I have of Cottesmore are happy ones and blue is still my favourite colour.