St Joseph's Society
My class in Underlow had more than 30 students, and among them were Steve Louden and Tony Joyce. So, there were two Joyces in the class, and sitting in our regular places each day, Fr Fred Ness (Maths) identified us as ‘Wall’ Joyce and ‘Window’ Joyce. This definition stuck, and when in the 1990s, maybe 25 years after Ordination, I visited Carmel to order one of their beautiful handmade cards, I introduced myself to Sister Margarita at the Turn, who inquired whether I was ‘Wall’ or ‘Window’ Joyce?
I did serve there as Chaplain for a while, but the Carmelite Sisters have very long memories!!
Recalling life in the Lower Line, many former students will remember lunchtimes with meals consumed in silence while listening to a senior student reading from books that were often tedious and quite boring! As a Ref(ectory) Fag, I was required to collect used plates etc., and like others, I tried to be quick, efficient and unobtrusive, but one day, fully laden and at top speed, I slipped on some food that had fallen from one of the tables; it could have been ‘boiled dog’ or maybe ‘wet nelly’ (so, it must have been a Tuesday!). In the event, I went base over apex, dropped the lot with a fearful clatter, and interrupted the reading. This was greeted with a rousing cheer and a round of applause! Fr Basil Walker (Prefect) was not amused!
My memories of Higher Line are focused on my year in Poetry, when, after 19th March each year, students in this class and above were considered mature and responsible enough on days off to leave the College in threes. Our default walk was to Pa’s in Orrell, with tea and toast for 3d, but on a whole day off, and for a full menu of ham, egg and chips, followed by tea and a plate of cakes, we occasionally visited a tea shop in Dalton. But it was 5/6 and a long walk back!
In the Upper House, I remember the Senior Common Room, when smoking in the 1960s was fashionable, even de riguer. On your 21st birthday therefore, it was the custom to provide cigarettes, placed on the tables, for fellow students to enjoy during the day.
Denis Cunningham, I remember, ran the tobacco shop each day, for students and staff alike.
In time, I was given the job to source and sell fresh fruit during the mid-morning breaks from lectures each day. I bought it wholesale from Highams of Wigan. They delivered to the College and any profit was retained within Social Circle funds.
I was also responsible for buying LP records for the Common Room. I qualified for this role because of my love of music, as I was another who attended Fr Alston’s Sunday soirees. I also took flute lessons at the Coll. too.
I was also a vice-Emptor and able to buy students’ general requirements from Wigan. So, a list was put up weekly, and on Thursday afternoons (half day), I would go into town to get what I could, and then, with the Emptor, Tom Hernon, we would repare to the Wishbone Cafeteria in the town centre for some light refreshment!
I was ordained in the Cathedral by Archbishop Beck in 1968 and retired from active priestly ministry in 2012, after service in parishes, or as chaplain to convents, nurses, scouts, even as a broadcaster, here around Merseyside and in the Isle of Man.
What did Upholland College do for me? It gave me the brotherhood and support of fellow priests who had been on the same, or similar, journey, and when serving with an older priest, for example, I felt our relationship was like that of the graft of a young shoot to an older tree, so when I think of the seminary system, I recall John 15:16 ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.’