John McGuirk 4Mass was a bit of a guessing game in so far as who would be taking it! Jed Oria could do the biz in 20mins flat, Pateman who was a bit more reflective especially after communion when I am sure he used to fall asleep! The worst though was Cantwell, 30 mins plus, and occasionally used to drift off into Latin. If you were late you had to walk past a glowering Fr Dazeley, who you knew was going to box your ears or give you a caning. Ed King was a good hymn singer as his voice had broken and his tone was very deep, all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order springs to mind.
Our 5th Year play was some sort of bizarre take off of Burke and Hare, with Paul Caine doing an impression of Gary Glitter and miming the song “I love you love” Ed King was on the decks, and Roger Boot was the body? But the whole thing relied on technology to be effective, and an orange “Dansette” record player didn’t quite live up to the mark. Full and half term were just the best, the excitement of going home to normal people, and the knowledge that when you came back there would be new boys to take the mickey out of, you would be further up the dinner table, and you would have the race to get the best cubicle or bed, and best of all, you would be just that bit closer to leaving.
HAPPY DAYS
