An Echo of The past
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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
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