(source : Paul West)

This was the Latin Primer that was used at The Priory when I was there.
(1955-57). On leaving, I bought my own copy which I needed for my GCE exam.
In 1970 I foolishly gave it away—and regretted it immediately. It was so much
a part of my young life, having studied from it for 5 years. This week my internet
search for a copy was successful at long last! Below are two sample pages which
I know will be familiar to at least one generation of former Priorians.


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(source : Paul West)

This page (7) was was  encouragingly straightforward and the first that eventually made sense.
Just a few pages along, however, things started to turn really difficult and there was a danger
that you would give up the ghost unless a sharp rap over the knuckles was administered.

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(source : Paul West)

(I  could have chosen the Passive conjugations but you might still be having trouble sleeping).

Note the use of Thee/s and Thou/s and Thy/s.
Were people still addressing each other in this
way in 1925, when this Primer was published ?

A little test to see if you learnt your tenses thoroughly. Why might the following frequently cause my wife to throw things at the radio / tv ? "I was / were sat there waiting for him by the bus station. . .  "

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Two pertinent items taken from the REMINISCENCES Appendix:

Mnemonics still working after nearly 50 years — Paul West (7th August 2004) Fr Pat Fitzgerald was our Latin teacher at The Priory, 1955 - 57. He believed in a very structured approach to his subject and, as I remember it, every lesson involved at least ten minutes of revising the grammar we had previously learnt. Do you remember conjugating verbs and declining nouns and adjectives ? (Not that you'd dare to decline to answer, of course). He gave us a couple of mnemonic codes for rembering some of the more obscure rules, one of which has stuck in my mind for more than half a century: " DIMP VC P" — which stood for Dives, Inops, Memor, Pauper, Vetus, Compos and Particeps. I could see you all nodding wisely as I wrote that — and affirming that the ablative case of these third declension adjectives all ended in 'e' . Makes for a hell of a party piece, I can tell you, particularly when you want people to go home now, please.

Mike Mearns replied (25th August 2004) : Further to Paul's reminiscence on Fitzy's mnemonics, who can supply the next two lines? The genders of declension three From each word's ending we can see. Note the use of the apostrophe! Thanks to "Oliphant" and Johnny Fowles Bless 'em all. MIKE.

(source : John Quinn)

Blacklion

(Probably 1962)

(L-R) :

Fr. Darcy (Patch), Tom Dooley, John Quinn, —, Mike Keller (Ratch), Jim Bentley,
Fr. Con O'Sullivan, Dutch W.F. bishop ?, — studying to be a brother?,
Peter Smith, Chris ?, — Scottish? Mike Foley, Charlie Timoney,
John MacDonald, Chris Cuthill, Chris Wildsmith, —?, Derek Green


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(source : John Quinn)

(source : John Quinn)

Broome Hall
(1963, probably)

(L-R) :

John MacDonald, Chris Cuthbert, Jim Brennan, John Quinn and Charlie Timoney


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(source : John Quinn)