{"id":1622,"date":"2025-03-01T19:50:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T19:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/?p=1622"},"modified":"2025-10-31T17:33:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:33:58","slug":"feast-of-st-david-celebrating-the-founding-of-newtown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/feast-of-st-david-celebrating-the-founding-of-newtown\/","title":{"rendered":"Feast of St David: Celebrating the Founding of Newtown"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 March, 2025<\/p>\n

Every item that preserves something of the SHCJ\u2019s history is important in its own way, but an especially fascinating and informative donation was made in February last year by Sr Maureen Grigg (name in religion Mary Petroc). The item in question was photograph album which tells the story of the SHCJ\u2019s teaching and pastoral ministries in Newtown, Wales from 1959 to 2000. Full of vivid images accompanied by Sr Maureen\u2019s descriptions of the events and the people featured, it is a wonderful record of the SHCJ\u2019s presence in Wales.<\/p>\n

\"\"
M.M. Emmanuel Kent by the River Severn, 1958<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As both the photograph album and the Newtown house diaries report, the first Welsh foundation of the SHCJ began on 1st September 1958. After a \u2018hot and crowded\u2019 journey from London and through Birmingham, Mother Mary Laurentia Wisely (baptismal name
\nCatherine) and Mother Mary Emmanuel Kent (B.N. Marie Monica) met Mother Mary Ultan McEvoy (B.N. Eileen) on the platform at Newtown. Along with Mother Mary Christina Grogan (B.N. Joyce), they were to form the Newtown Community, who lived at a property named Bridge-End during their first year.<\/p>\n

From their arrival, the Holy Child sisters were offered help and friendship. Father David Bottrill drove the sisters to their new home while young David Conlin assisted them with their luggage. A pupil at Belmont himself, he had five younger siblings at St Mary\u2019s, the school the community were to take on.<\/p>\n

Father Beddoes not only gave the SHCJ nuns \u2018a hearty welcome\u2019, but
\nalso brought a gift of fresh vegetables, eggs and a vase of roses. After a great deal of cleaning and shopping for essentials, including milk and a kettle, the sisters sat down at 5 o\u2019clock for a well-earned tea. Sr Christina Grogan arrived in the afternoon and Father Beddoes came to introduce himself to her while bearing a gift of cakes made by the school cook. Even after such a busy day, \u2018sleep was long in coming to all\u2019 due to the \u2018deafening\u2019 sound of the weir.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The children of the Conlin Family. During regular floods they had to evacuate their home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The school term began at St Mary\u2019s on Monday 8th September and the sisters found there was a \u2018great dearth of books and equipment.\u2019 However, one special item arrived the following Wednesday: a statue of the Holy Child from the Birmingham Community. The children were \u2018delighted with it but wonder why He [has] not woken up\u2019.<\/p>\n

On Friday 12th September, a \u2018most welcome trunk and tea chest\u2019 arrived from Mayfield, but as the nuns unwrapped their bounty, Mr d\u2019Elboux, his daughter Susan Maynard and her daughter Jane arrived from Penmaendyfi. Both father and daughter were pupils at St Leonards, while Jane was preparing to go there herself. Bonded with the Society across three generations in this way, naturally the family wanted to greet their local Holy Child nuns. The sisters were pleased to see them, but M.M. Christina was relieved that they would not take tea since the community possessed only one parlour teacup \u2018(from Woolworths)\u2019!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Infants, Classes 1 and 2 with M.M. Emmanuel Kent, M.M. Malachy Campbell, M.M. Christina Grogan, M.M. Rosario Hoare, M.M. Ultan McEvoy, M. Matthias Yonge and Fr Beddoes, Dec 1964.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following year, on 20th July 1959, the community moved to Dolerw. The previous week, the sisters oversaw their first speech day for St Mary\u2019s School. Although unfortunately, percussion instruments for the infants to play had not arrived, the children entertained the sisters, local priests and their parents with a piano recital and a scene from Winnie the Pooh. Fr Beddoes was thanked by Fr Bottrill for all he had done for St Mary\u2019s School, while in turn, Fr Beddoes \u2018expressed his happiness at handing over the school to the SHCJ.\u2019<\/p>\n

On Monday 27th July, the first Mass was celebrated at Dolerw in the little oratory while Phil Davies worked on the chapel. After a week of cleaning and preparing their new convent, the Sisters celebrated the Feast of St Ignatius with dinner and tea on the lawn at Dolerw and enjoyed \u2018beautiful weather!\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"
View of Dolerw, 1959.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By 1972, the ministries of the Newtown SHCJ included a whole range of activities besides teaching and managing St Mary\u2019s School. They were engaged in the Catechetical instruction of children who attended the local non-Catholic secondary school and took on other parish duties, such as cleaning the Church.<\/p>\n

Alongside these duties, the Newtown SHCJ sisters provided support to the entire community, regardless of a recipient\u2019s faith. Sisters Mary Campion King (B.N. Kathleen) Sr Christine Mary Austin (B.N. Elizabeth Marie Josephine) and Sr Christina Grogan managed the Newtown Guides and Brownies which were non- denominational. Sr Margaret Farrell served on the committee for Parents and Friends of those with learning difficulties. The sisters also visited hospitals, retirement homes and elderly individuals such as two men visited by Sr Christina Grogan who had both recently lost their wives.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sr Kathleen King and Sr Mary Mills camping at Newquay with the Birmingham and Sr Mary\u2019s Newtown Guides, July 1978.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sisters Mary Ultan, Maura Healey and Mary Campion helped at the local hospital as members of the British Red Cross. On her first shift at the hospital Sr Mary Ultan \u2018gave great merriment to two young nurses by saying \u201cWell, I\u2019ve never shaved anyone before!\u201d when she had to shave three elderly men with an electric razor. The sisters\u2019 contribution was noted by the local B.R.C. president who was heard to state \u2018the nuns have been marvelous in coming to our rescue\u2019. As Christina Grogan comments at the close of her Province newsletter article: \u2018the Community at Newtown has helped to explode the idea that nuns shut themselves away from the World and its needs!\u2019<\/p>\n

In April 1974, St Mary\u2019s was still a relatively small school of 80 children, but as Sister Mary Mathias Yonge commented in the Province Newsletter \u2018we are a very happy school\u2019. She illustrates this warm atmosphere with the following anecdote:<\/p>\n

A Child in the nursery class sang loudly and clearly:
\n\u201cPlays him, plays him, olly- golly plays him,\u201d
\nThis is not Welsh, but her own version of the Welsh Sunday School hymn, \u2018Praise Him, Praise Him, All God\u2019s Children Praise him\u2019. She danced about in time to her singing, and I thought how typical of our school that the children of emigrants here should be often singing and laughing. There is much more of it than crying. And there is always movement \u2013 dancing, singing, playing football, playing Hockey, and all of it full of joy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
M.M. Matthias Yonge with the nursery class, 1965.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The SHCJ left the convent at Dolerw in August 2000, but the Society Welsh connections remain strong with the presence of Sisters Maureen Grigg and Helen Bamber continuing in Newtown and the Society\u2019s Welsh Sister Mary Wayne Gradon\u2019s presence in Harrogate. Sr Wayne\u2019s ministries have spanned across two SHCJ Provinces and include her vital work establishing the Casa Cornelia Law Center with Sr Ann M. Durst in San Diego, which recent events make all the more resonant.<\/p>\n

The editor for January 1972 English Province News Summary termed the Newtown SHCJ as \u2018a neigbourhood community\u2019 since they kept a particular focus on building ecumenical bridges. Now, perhaps more than ever, it is important to take a moment to admire this open- minded, patient and loving work.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sr Mary Campion (Kathleen) King, Sr Mary Ultan McEvoy, Sr Maura Healy, Sr Mary Matthias Yonge, Sr Mary Christina Grogan, Sr Christine Mary Austin, July 1970.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 March, 2025 Every item that preserves something of the SHCJ\u2019s history is important in its own way, but an especially fascinating and informative donation was made in February last year by Sr Maureen Grigg (name in religion Mary Petroc). The item in question was photograph album which tells the story of the SHCJ\u2019s teaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":385,"featured_media":1631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/385"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shcj.org\/european\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}