From: Caroline Storer and Caroline Kose (Dermody)
Years attended Notre Dame: 1984 – 1989
Memories: We would have football matches between pupils and teachers. I remember kicking Mr McShane in the shin. (Dermody)
Miss Fenwick would always have a saying before starting cooking which was:
“Prepare Yourself
Prepare your tin
Light the oven
And then begin”
I still use this when cooking now. (Storer)
From: Unknown
Years attended Notre Dame: Unknown
Memories: Lunch-time memories: During serving the food we had to be quiet. Sister Monica rang the little bell to let us know when we could and could not speak during the whole period – Very disciplined – we all were!
The stone staircase – a great short-cut!
A wonderful sense of community – for us all and spiritual also.
From: Stephanie Hendry (Drabble)
Years attended Notre Dame: Left in 1975
Memories: Starting at Cavendish Street then moving up here. I enjoyed the sewing lessons in the convent with Sister Gertrude.
From: Elizabeth Tunnard (Cassin)
Years attended Notre Dame: 1961 – 1968
Memories: We used to be allowed out of Cavendish Street to attend First Friday mass at lunchtime. One Friday a group of us, including me, Olivia Rocca, Sheila Gregory and some others made our way down there but never got to St Marie’s. As we passed the Grand Hotel (next to the City Hall) the Rolling Stones got out of a coach – arriving for a ‘gig’ in Sheffield that night. We hitched up our skirts, tucked hats into pockets and got autographs instead of a spiritual indulgence. (I never did achieve nine First Fridays!)
From: Sheila Morton
Years attended Notre Dame: 1961 – 1968
Memories: The yellow braid to be sewn on the blazer as a prefect which also meant that ‘the hat’ had to be worn after 5 years of avoidance.
Having ‘skirt inspections’ when the distance of the skirt hem from the floor was measured! Woe-betide those who had turned over their waistbands!
An understanding that ‘standards’ were important.
From: Olivia Rocca
Years attended Notre Dame: 1961 – 1968
Memories: My friends and I organised the first ever school dance (Pauline Moss, Elizabeth Cassin). We invited Mount St Mary’s De la Salle boys!! We even had a band playing – The Ashes. Sinful indeed. Miss Young (French) helped us to do it all but Sister Mary afterwards said we couldn’t do it again because she’d been told we needed a licence. It was a really ‘big deal’ then – something that today isn’t out of the ordinary at all. We loved it at Notre Dame!
From: Marie Biggin
Years attended Notre Dame: 1961 – 1968
Memories: Dancing as ‘The King’ on the City Hall at Prize Night to Prokofiev’s music
Mrs Wolstenholme playing for netball teams
Standing on my head in the gym
Going to choir practice with Miss Jowett
School dinners were memorable when we had to serve each other from metal dishes on the table.
Following the acquisition of Oakbrook House by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1919, a community magazine called ‘Agamus’ was published for several years. Here are a few pages from 1922-3: