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C-BERSS EX-PRESS
June 1998
Issue 3, Vol 1
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All Newsletters : June 1998 : Memories ... Brendan McCloat
Memories ... Brendan McCloat
Focus on Castledare
Nine years old in 1957, a young rebellious lad from Ireland, Brendan McClout remembers arriving at Castledare with 13 other Belfast boys to be required to put on an Aussie uniform of green shorts and a yellow T-shirt ... and to add insult to injury they were required to take regular showers.
"We didn't like the idea of having a shower. We avoided it like the plague. They used to chase us to make us get into the showers. We soon learnt that is was much better to submit -- it made life much easier".
And then there were the mosquitos - "they just loved us and they chewed us to pieces. When I scratched, I broke out into sores. Matron Kelly dabbed the bites (and the sores) with mercurichrome. She also dipped my thumb in iodine to stop me from sucking it".
Perhaps it was the touch of the Blarney Stone in him, or whatever, but Brendan soon discovered a dramatic streak. He participated in Castledare plays (HMS Pinafore in 1957, and The Mikado in 1958). He also remembers playing a role in the opening of the chapel of the Mother of Perpetual Help where, as one of the alter boys to the Archbishop, due solemnity was called for. "The Church was big on liturgy and pomp in those days. Assisting the Archbishop was serious business".
As he tells the story of his time at Castledare, according to Brendan it was mostly sunshine but there were also some of what he describes as "rainy days" too.
For example, Brendan talks of his humiliation when one day in class an Irish boy was asked to answer a question. He got the answer wrong. "All the Irish boys in the class were told to stand up while the Brother wrote on the board The only good Irishman is a dead Irishman. The sentence stayed on the blackboard for months because we were all too frightened to rub it off".
But the sun breaks through again, as Brendan (now aged 50) confesses to having reflected that one day he might retire to the place which was his first port of call in Australia - Castledare. It was a half-fledged dream which he has now had to let go of (with a touch of sadness) as the buildings have been demolished and the site is to take on a new role as an Aged Care facility and public recreation area.
In the meantime, Brendan is building more immediate plans of his own. In September he'll be heading off to Europe for an eight week stay where he plans to visit not only his family, but also to explore the wonders of Italy, Germany, Holland, and maybe even Brussels.
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