St Vinnies-Bettis e Coed

An Echo of The past

Capel Curig Training Camp is a place of much interest, especially to my peer group, of 70 years plus, who spent part of their childhood there.
Until the late forties the camp was a Government ?Approved School?, a school for naughty boys and that?s about what we were, just young lads aged from eight to fifteen years.

The school, Saint Vincent?s, was originally based in Beacon Lane, Formby which is just to the north of Liverpool; it was setup by the Government as a reform school for juvenile delinquents and Run by the catholic order of nuns ?The Sisters of Charity?, who may have understood the concept of charity but I doubt they knew much about compassion, they certainly knew how to inflict physical pain ? They looked after the welfare of our souls, our education and they fed us.

The nuns were quite good if you behaved, however their endeavor to save our souls and possibly steer us in the direction of sainthood was a bit too much ? We just about lived in the Chapel, which was next to the present day Admin. Office, it was Mass every morning, the Angelus twice a day and Benediction in the evening ? at Christmas time you can throw in a midnight Mass, those sisters really fed us religion.

Many young boys were committed to Approved Schools for no other reason than excessive exuberance but at the time it was called juvenile delinquency, we weren?t bad kids by today?s standards we were just being kids. If you did time at Saint Vinnie?s, Bettis y Coed I would love to hear from you
Cheers
Berger

Your post is of interest as you back up the case of cruelty by nuns towards children. In this country the legal services commision wont allow action against them.To that extent they are immune yet the allegations are widespread. The church has apoligized in Ireland and America and also recently in Austrailia but no one has admitted responsibility in this region.

I wouldn't say that nuns are cruel, the lads i knew weren't little angels and at times I'm sure they would need to be pulled into line and when nuns take on the task they know how to hurt, I'm sure they never got sexually abbused as many did when Saint Vincents returned to Formby, Liverpool.

Berger

if ya wanna see how nasty these f****n penguins were,watch a film called The Magdellana Laundrys,true story of Irish nuns,last one only closed here in Ireland in late 90's NO apology,NO prosecutions,anoys me when I was a kidin Liverpool I went to St Vinnies in city centre,had to call the nuns Sister,you aint my sister bi**ch,and call a priest father,go away,your NOBODYS father unless your bishop shagnasty caseylol