We received an unexpected Christmas present this week from OP Melvin Glynn (Class of 1975), along with a kind card wishing the Alumni Team and College staff well, he had included a 1978 copy of the Princethorpe magazine and a Games Calendar from 1973 – 1974.

Referring to the magazine, Mel pointed out that he had been sat next to Fr Jim Mannix MSC, his Art Teacher, on the day Fr Mannix drew the iconic sketch of the Chapel back in 1971. If you look very carefully you can see Fr Mannix’s name and the year towards the bottom of the picture, by some foliage and fencing.

The Games Calendar was the property of Mel’s brother Martin, who sadly passed away in 2022. Martin was in the Upper Sixth in 1973-74 and from his annotations on the card, showing the results from the matches, it looks like he was a key part of the College’s Hockey and Basketball Teams. Many of the past fixtures are against schools that we still play to this day.

Another interesting aspect to the Calendar is the Films section, with weekly Saturday night showings for the boarders of classics including Dr. No, West Side Story, Spartacus and The Magnificent Seven. Can you remember watching any of these?

The Card also gives brief details of key College Officials from the time, not only Head Boy John Berry and Deputy Head Boy Christopher Marot, but Martin himself who was Head Librarian, other important information featured are examination and term dates and other key events.

These publications give us a fascinating insight into the past life of the College and we thank Mel for thinking of us and sending them in, they will be duly passed over to Jo Wong, our archivist for safe keeping.