AN ECHO FROM THE PAST!

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G

One never knows when a gift from our past will surface via correspondence, email or telephone call; but when it does it can bring back profound memories from our past. Some may be painful, others poignant and truly heartrending...

This week, my twin brother, Terrence, sent me an email with a link to “Bartram's Residence” in London, England. As I clicked on the link it brought tears to my eyes. It gave a brief history of the original Bartram’s Convent, which I was unaware of at the time being only 6 years old.

Following is that brief history: “Bartrams Residence is owned and maintained by the Sisters of Providence. In 1865 His Eminence Cardinal Manning, invited the Sisters from Belgium to London to work in prisons. The Home Office, however, did not share the Cardinal’s view with regard to having Sisters involved in prison work in England.

The Cardinal then asked them to open an orphanage in High Street Hampstead. In 1868 the orphanage was transferred to a house called Bartrams in Haverstock Hill. It was turned into a boarding school, and remained as such until the Convent was destroyed by bombs in 1940. A new building was erected as a residence for students and was officially opened in 1959 by His Eminence Cardinal Godfrey…” www.bartramsresidence.com, or e-mail: bartramsresidence@yahoo.co.uk

So why did this bring tears to my eyes? My twin brother and I attended Bartram's Convent in northwest London in 1939. During the “Battle of Britain” we were evacuated along with the nuns to Kettering (southern England) in 1940 when the school was bombed. We were 6-1/2 years old at the time. Our parents had no idea where we were being sent with bombs dropping everywhere no shelter was safe. The nuns were wonderful to us. I will never forget Sister Michael and the bravery of all the nuns!

My parents finally found out where we had been taken and immediately set out to bring us back. My father felt strongly that if we were to die then we would die together. It would be the last I would see of Sister Michael and my old school chums.

We also lost a beautiful 3-storied house near the school during the bombing. We attended Mass regularly at the “Priory” where well known Father Vincent McNab, OP baptized and gave us our First Holy Communion. Years before he also married my parents.

My parents, twin brother and I emigrated to the USA December 1947 (when I was 14-1/2) to my Uncle's farm on Long Island, New York. I very luckily finished high school at Queen of the Rosary Academy, Amityville, New York one month after my 16th birthday.

In a sense, I had no childhood. The war started when I was 6-1/2 and ended when I was 12-1/2. But, I would not trade the memories I have of surviving a brutal war and learning what courage, sacrifice and love really mean. I was surrounded by them!

I hope your past memories are as significant as mine!


Shirley M. Carolan, ATMG
Writer ● Speaker ● Artist
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
http://www.shirleycarolan.com
http://www.angelscross.blogspot.com
http://www.smcarolan.blogspot.com

Copyright© 2012 by Shirley M. Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net. Thank you