Sometimes a word just resonates. When I saw the word
Grottoes on
the latest Sepia Saturday blog post I immediately knew which photo I just had to share this week.
This photo evokes so many memories for me that I am going to set it to X-large on Blogger and let it flow over into the sidebar of my blog.
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| St Vincent's College Infants Students c 1956 |
The grotto with its statue of Our Lady was supposed to be a place of reflection for students of
St Vincent's College, Potts Point in Sydney but for we infant students in the 50s it provided a wonderful place to hide and climb. we had so much fun acting like little mountain goats until Helen A knocked that statue over and broke it - her father had to pay for a replacement. I think that after that mishap our climbing activities were curtailed.
BTW I am towards the right in the middle - little girl with fringe sticking her tummy out.
This is a post in response to
Sepia Saturday 183
Charmin picture, and a lovely anecdote.
ReplyDeleteAmazing they didn't think to stop you bad little kids from climbing over the statue before it fell and broke! Must have been nice to have that freedom before it happened though.
ReplyDeleteLove this picture Jill!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh dear...how awful for a child to face the wrath of the nuns ! They had me moving a very heavy statute of Joseph recently in church. It was nerve wracking. It was old and perfect, but I was also aware that it was only made out of Plaster of Paris or similar...one knock and it may be 1,000 pieces. I still wake in the night sweating and wondering if my fixing of the wooden stand to the wall will stand the test of someone pulling it !!
ReplyDeleteThat statue almost belnds in and becomes one of the students in your photo. I have few photos of my schools, sadly.
ReplyDeleteJill this is just a fantastic photo. What a great story. I think my nephew may have committed a similar sin not so very long ago at our local parish school too.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture Jill. A time when children could be children. I feel sorry for Helen as she would have been in a lot of trouble. It must have made an impression as you remembered her name.
ReplyDeleteCute picture of the kids, and I like the way the statue appears as part of the group.
ReplyDeleteLoved the picture & the story behind it. Too bad the hiding & climbing activities were curtailed after Helen A.'s little accident. The freedom & joy of simply doing something fun & mysterious on a whim in childhood is all too soon adult'ed out of us.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great old photo and well worth the extra size. The memories are pretty good as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a funny little story. I went with "grotto" too.
ReplyDeleteA great photo and most amusing story although I can imagine that poor child suffered after the accident.
ReplyDeleteJill, don't you just love it when memories stand the test of time -- of course it helps to have a great photo as a reminder.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I thought when I first read that word too. Great offering/
ReplyDelete