Pauline Hawthorne (nee Quinlivan) 1980s Pupil

By Chloe Dinning and Laila Millar

I remember many teachers from St. Francis. Mrs Vannucci al-

ways wore amazing clothes and had funky bracelets which

would jingle when she rubbed out my work. I thought it was the

magic rubbers sold from the tuck shop that jingled and I was

very disappointed when I found out that it wasn’t the magic rub-

bers jingling, it was in fact Mrs Vannucci’s bangles. Mrs Van-

nucci also made learning extraordinarily fun! I remember dook-

ing for apples at Halloween and we also made soup in her class.

My best memory of Miss McFarlane was when she used to come

round with a trolley full of tuck shop goodies! I always bought a

packet of Polo’s for 6p and two fruit chews for 2p each. What a

treat.

Mr Robbie was our P.E teacher and I always made sure that I

was prepared because if we forgot our kit we had to do it in our

pants and vest which was very embarrassing!

Mrs Strain was an excellent teacher and she kept a tight rein on

the more challenging behaviours. Her catchphrase was “One

more move and you’ll be out on your ear!” Nobody dared move,

but she taught me so much.

Mrs Docherty was our Head Teacher. Pupils had full respect for

her but those who didn’t behave and were sent to her were met

with a few lashings of the belt which was very painful.

We had a sewing teacher called Mrs Ferguson, she was based in

the huts. When it was our class turn, the girls had to wash their

hands first and then we were taught to sew and knit. The boys

stayed in class with the teacher to do art.

Mr Francis would deliver a crate of milk to each classroom every

morning. The teacher would wait until just before playtime be-

fore she would give out the milk. By the time we got it the heat

from the radiator had warmed it up – I’ve never drank milk

since! Thank you Pauline for sharing your memories.

Robert Christie - father of Emily Christie in our P5Class!!

RUBIK’S CUBE Can you solve it?

It looks easy but it isn’t! There are lots of combinations.

You’ll never get BORED! If you’re a genius it will still be hard.

Choking hazard 3+

By Michal Drzewiecki

Mrs Garvin - 40 Years Service

Mrs Eleanor Garvin started teaching in St. Francis Xavier’s Primary

School in 1980 and is still teaching in the school today. Mrs Garvin

has shared her love of learning with many pupils over the years and

some of our current members of staff were taught by her! Mrs

Garvin will be presented with a Long Service Award from Falkirk

Council in August, celebrating 40 years at our school. We think that

you really deserve this Mrs Garvin.

(Back Row) Aileen McFeat, Irene Vannucci, Lauretta Bennie, Eleanor Garvin,

Sheila Ambrose, Ronnie McGrath, Bridie Power, Nan Strain.

(Front Row) Hilda Mackintosh, Shona Martin, Lily McFarlane, George Valen-

tine, Margaret Burns, Kathleen Boyle, Catherine O’Donnell.

Mrs Garvin Interview By Cameron Hill and Adam Sinclair.

What do you remember about teaching in the 1980s? All children sat at individual desks and worked on their own. Most lessons came from text books and only the girls got sewing and knit-ting.

What is your proudest moment from teaching in the 1980s? I am very proud that pupils whom I have taught have returned to work in the school, including Mrs Williamson and Mrs Watkins.

Do you have any other memories which you would like to share with us? I remember when Pope John Paul II came to Glasgow and the school closed for the day to allow the staff to go to the Mass.

The Opening of the Mariner Centre

By Bradley Fullard and Anya Janowiec

In April 1985 there was an exciting event in Falkirk. The new lei-sure centre was opened. There was a queue to get to the new lei-sure pool, the Mariner Centre and it was 2000 people long. Some of the queuing people were pushing and shoving each other howev-er they had hired a security guard to stop people from getting hurt.

The Mariner Centre was opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth II who cut a ribbon to officially open the building. It was very exciting for everybody. There was also a very important man present, the man-ger, Bob McLean. When he was interviewed at the opening ceremo-ny, he said "It feels great to have a new leisure centre and I feel very proud of my staff. They have been working very hard for me and we are very excited to be working in this new place.”

The first paying customer was Ross Mckeller, who said that he felt honoured to be the first person to go into the pool. Mr. McLean also said “We have been mobbed by people wanting to use the pool. We have had queues out of the door.” Falkirk District Council’s Direc-tor of Amenity and Recreation, Mr. David Mould, added “The re-sponse has been absolutely fantastic, we had 2800 people through the door on Monday and over 2000 on Tuesday.” JUST £2

THE BERLIN WALL FALLS IN 1989.

By Adam Bradley and Kayla Smith

Interview with Adam’s Papa, who served at the Berlin Wall

with the Military Police.

How long did you work at the Berlin Wall? I worked there

for 2 years from 1978 to 1980 so I was not there when it came

down but I was very emotional as I watched it happen live on T.V.

Did you have friends on the wall or were you not allowed to

speak to anyone? I used to work with friends and we were

allowed to talk and have coffee together, but we were not allowed

to speak to the East Germans.

How high was the wall? The wall was between 3 and 5 me-

ters high and in some places they just bricked up the doors and

windows of houses to stop people escaping into West Germany.

What was your job on the wall? My job was patrolling the

west side of the wall, escorting the Russians when they came into

West Berlin and manning Check Point Charlie. When I was on

duty I carried a gun but never had to use it.

Did you help people escape from East Berlin? I didn’t help

any one escape but I did go into no mans land when a drunken

soldier crashed a car into the wall so I drove in and brought him

back.

Did you guard any Nazis? Who were they? The German gen-

eral I guarded was Hitler’s second in command. His name was

Rudolph Hess, he was the only prisoner in the whole of the prison

and one of the most famous Nazis.

Did you agree with the wall ? I did not agree with the wall. It

was put up by the east to keep out western influence and freedom.

Families were divided when the wall went up, with part of a fami-

ly in the east and part in the west, they couldn’t see each other.

In 1989, a series of events in Hungary and Poland caused things

to happen in East Germany that resulted in the fall of the Wall.

After a few weeks of people showing they weren’t happy, the

East German government announced that people could cross the

wall. Crowds on both sides climbed the wall and had a big party

to celebrate, over the next few weeks people chipped away parts

of the wall. It took a year to fully demolish the Berlin Wall as it

was so long. The Cure for Leprosy

By Jessica Robertson and Finlay Cochran

St. Francis Xavier’s Unbeaten Football Team 1989/90

By Macy McLeod

Memories from the Goalkeeper—Paul Duffy

We won the league that year, we never lost a single game. I was

in goal and I only let in five goals all season! Jamie Toland was

electric on the wing and Brian Masterton was about three foot

taller and three stone bigger than any other kid we played against.

We were the Liverpool of our day! This picture was of us receiv-

ing our new kit. Our winning streak meant that the school was

able to attract a sponsor and we were chuffed to get a brand new

kit.

(Back Row) Kieran Kozary, Bryan McGlynn, Mark Cox, Brian Masterton,

Paul, Duffy, Kevin Lynch, Paul Smith,

(Front Row) Carmine Militia, Stephen McPeake, Dean McPherson, Paul

Mochan, Brian Rafferty, Martin McGlynn, Jamie Toland, Neil, Dooher

Live Aid—1985

By Kuba Rak

In 1985 an Irish Pop Star

called Bob Geldof and a

Scottish Pop Star called

Midge Ure, decided to

get all the famous bands

together to make a chari-

ty single and hold a con-

cert to raise funds for the

famine hit country of

Ethiopia. The concert

alone raised over £140

million pounds and

raised the profile of the

Ethiopian crisis around

the world. By

Franek Niemiec

Leprosy is a skin disease that had caused great misery and despair around the world until the 1980s. One of the great medical break-throughs in recent times was the cure developed by Dr. Jacinto Con-vit. Although there are still areas in the world where Leprosy is found, there is hope of people getting bet-ter if they can get the right medi-cine.

Pupils of St. Francis Xavier’s have raised thousands of pounds for Lepra over the years. Here are a few pho-tographs of us in Primary 1 doing the Lepra workout.

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