ST PAUL’S POST St Paul’s Province Weekly Newsletter: 58 4 December 2017

Our birthday girls

this week are:

Mary Curtin 6 December

Angelus Cleary 8 December

The Advent calendar made

by Carers in Lytham with

the help of the Knitting

Club.

Sr Edith won the first draw.

Thou wilt know him when

he comes,

Not by any din of drums,

Nor by the vantage of his

airs,

Nor by anything he wears,

Neither by his crown, nor

by his gown.

But his coming known

shall be

by the holy harmoney

his presence makes in

thee.

Anon. English (14th Century)

Relatives of Sisters:

Marguerita’s brother-in-law, Brendan;

Damian’s brother, Brendan

and her sister, Betty;

Anna Hainey’s brother, Danny;

Francis’ niece-in-law, Val McCartan and

Francis’ brother, Austin;

Catherine Kealy’s brother-in-law, Tony;

Sr Sheila McNally’s brother, John;

Carmel Gorman’s sister-in-law, Mary;

for:

Our Sisters: Sheila McNally, ………...who is

going into hospital for a hip

replacement on 8 December;

Monica Higgins;

Kathleen Shelly;

Catherine Laboure;

Julie McGing;

Agnes Marie.

Give thanks for:

Edith Culliton, who is progressing well in

Lytham.

The PLT enjoyed meeting with the CLT in Drumalis and experienced the usual Drumalis

hospitality.

Anna & Margaret Rose, with Maura Burns and Katrina Hartin

raised £567 for the St Vincent de Paul Society

Winter in sunny Arizona!

I am very grateful to Sr Therese O'Regan and all PLT members for making it possible for me to visit my nephew Conor, Jackie his wife and their three children Fionnula, Ciara and Seamus, in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. It was a wonderful privilege. Many thanks.

The whole of the area of Arizona is in the Sonoran desert - what a desert! It was winter time when I was there in November, but the temperature each day was around 28 or 29 degrees centigrade. The ground is sandy, but because of underground irrigation systems they get water many thousands of miles away from the Rocky Mountains, and the Colorado River. My first impression of Arizona, was like the wild west films we used to see. The Indian-American Reservation was only about 10 minutes drive from my nephew's house, but the ordinary American is not allowed to enter!

The houses in Scottsdale are all the same pale brown colour, but every house is uniquely built in a one acre patch. Some of the houses are very beautiful. Scottsdale is in a valley. It is not a town. So when you go to a store, you take a car ride of about 20 or 25 minutes or more. There are plenty of good roads and highways, not like the desert in Botswana.

My nephew and his wife could not do enough for me. They brought me to the Grand Canyon, which is so beautiful and so huge, and to the Red Rock, which I personally loved above all. The red rocks were carved by the elements, and to me looked like castles that had been carved out of the Red Mountains. (to be continued) Annie McCambridge

Sunset from Conor’s House and plants in his garden.

Sr Annie tackled the nearest trail walk—extremely

difficult!

Srs Christine and Eily May attended the event: Sr Christine as a former student and present

member of the Hall Advisory Committee; Sr Eily May as a former warden. For Sr Eily May in

particular, it was a joyous and memorable reunion

with her former students.

After time for meeting up with old friends and

contemporaries, and tours of the Hall for those

who wished, we gathered in the Chapel for

afternoon tea. Here the present warden, Katie

Urnevitch, welcomed us formally and then

introduced her senior tutor, Helen Kilburn, to say

a few words. To our surprise and delight, Helen

gave a very moving account of the history of

the Hall and the Sisters’ part in it. (A slightly

shortened version of her speech accompanies

the Newsletter as an attachment, for those

who would like to see what a postgraduate

student today makes of it all!)

We then enjoyed our afternoon tea and more

conversations. Finally there was a

spontaneous vote of thanks from one of the

former students to Katie and all the organisers, for a very happy and successful event. In this we

all of us most sincerely concurred.

Christine

On Saturday, November 6, St Gabriel’s held a reunion

for its former students. About 70 attended, many

travelling quite a distance and a significant number

from earlier decades from the 1950’s on. The oldest

alumna was Pat Cast (O’Gara), Sr Cecily Mary’s sister-

in-law. Pat could also link up with the beginnings of

the Hall, in that her mother took up residence in the

Hall in 1922.