It is with great sadness that we received the news of Dono’s death . In my eyes he will always remain the cheerful little cockney lad from all those decades ago . It is a testament to his character that even after such along passage of time the memories of our time in his company, however short ,will remain with us . Our hearts go out to his family and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

Degs (Kevin Deignan)

Written by Charles Young

Hi Dono,
Best wishes. Hope you got my letter. Tony Rowe and John McGovern have been letting me know how you are doing. Take care.
Tony Walsh

On Child Sexual Abuse In British Boarding Schools – January 13, 2014

By Ann Olivarious http://www.aoadvocates.com/

Yesterday my colleague and friend Georgina Calvert-Lee was quoted in the Sunday Times discussing some of the horrendous sexual abuse that occurs in British boarding schools.

After the Jimmy Saville revelations, it’s become clear to many people that horrific child abuse can exist even in plain sight. The closed and authoritarian nature of some boarding schools and churches – the kinds of institutions we bring legal actions against on behalf of abuse survivors – can create safe havens for abusers, who seek out such places precisely because they give access to vulnerable children.

Articles like the ones in the Sunday Times about persistent sexual abuse occurring in settings intended to nurture and develop children, like schools and churches, are upsetting to read. Nevertheless, I am sure that sunlight is the best disinfectant. When abuse survivors come forward and are believed, as they are increasingly, abusers are stopped and punished, the institutions that harbour them reform, other survivors feel empowered to come forward, and potential abusers are deterred. It’s a virtuous circle. So I’m encouraged that the issue of child abuse in elite boarding schools is being exposed, not swept under the carpet as used to be the norm.

This is progress. But my wish for 2014 is that the schools, religious institutions and other organisations that have employed abusers would take real responsibility rather than hide, deny and point fingers as they usually do. Many still act as if they had nothing to do with the abuse, even though time and again you see that patterns of abuse persisted for years and even decades — because complaints were dismissed, abusers were shuffled to new jobs, the institution’s reputation was protected instead of children’s well-being. In my experience, officials of churches and schools too often act as if their otherwise noble goals mean that abuse survivors should just forgive, forget and move on. Meanwhile they mount scorched earth legal fights that grind the survivor down even further, an added cruelty.

To me, the crucial front in the worldwide fight to curb child abuse must now be to convince the institutions that have turned a blind eye finally to take abuse seriously, and to honour survivors rather than disdain them.

You can find a link to the article here: http://thetim.es/KRknvC

Hello all,

Apparently, there appears to be some confusion about who it is that is writing, and then publishing the comments and posts on the Mirfield Blog.

Myself, as an administrator of the blog, alongside Kevin and Tony Edwards, who are also administrators, are the only people that can publish comments and postings. All postings and comments are seen by one of us before we add them to the blog.

Even though the posting may say, for example, “Posted on 6 January 2014 by Mark Murray” it does not indicate that I am the author of the post, only that I posted it on behalf of the author. For that reason we try to include in the title of the posting; the authors name, and a brief synopsis of his or her posting.

Regards,

Mark

Hello

I’m wondering if my email can please be posted on the blog/website?

My name is Aidan, I was at Mirfield for a year in 1966. My problem is that I have so few memories of that experience and anything before it. There is a blackness when I try to think about it but I feel that it’s an emotion rather than a thought. I recall few people and cannot put faces to anyone really. Reading through the various posts I recognise names. I was in the same dormitory as Eamon Crowe and a boy called Ian. I remember travelling by train with a boy called Michael. he got off a tDurham and I continued to Newcastle. I recall Fr Hicks. I certainly recall Fr Valmaggio as I was often in the infirmary with asthma. I recall Stenico and Latin, I think.

I am hoping i can be provided with some facts. I believe that the infirmary and Valmaggio’s clinic were in the old building. Were they on the top floor? I ask because of the few memories I have, I recall a frightening attic. I can see African things in there but it’s not a happy memory that I have. I went back to Mirfield a few years ago to see if I could try to gain some memories. It didn’t work. I did see a new slanting roof.

I wonder if anyone recalls me?

What was the name of the rector please? What did Father Wade look like?

Many thanks and best wishes

Aidan B

Hi Guys,

Martin, thanks for your yarn – great stuff!
And thank you for all your kind thoughts and stories – please keep them coming.

Has anybody got any match reports from our football games back then (Tony Rowe?).

Please keep in touch.

Dono

Hello,

If anyone has any photographs of their time at Mirfield – and they do not mind them being put on the blog – I am sure a large number of old boys, myself included, would love to see them.

Thanks,

Mark