St Luke and Seminarians

Wow, so much to do and such little time!

Happy Feast to Luke (you know who you are) and did you read the letter from the Holy Father to seminarians? You can follow this link here. My favourite passage is:

Anyone who wishes to become a priest must be first and foremost a “man of God”, to use the expression of Saint Paul (1 Tim 6:11). For us God is not some abstract hypothesis; he is not some stranger who left the scene after the “big bang”. God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ we see the face of God. In his words we hear God himself speaking to us. It follows that the most important thing in our path towards priesthood and during the whole of our priestly lives is our personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

I kind of wish I'd realised that myself when I was in seminary! Time flies so quickly and before you know it you're ordained. Still, at least the Pope reiterates that this personal relationship is the centre of all that a priest is.

St Luke
Pray for Us

I love a good fight

There is nothing better, in my humble opinion, than a good healthy competition to get your blood pumping (especially when I'm on the winning team) and there is a HUGE clash of the titans brewing up as we speak.

The football giants of Oscott College have challenged the Dominicans to a game of footie at the end of this month. You can read more about it on the eastangliaseminarians blog, here, and over on the Godzdogz, here.

I'm not sure of the footballing talent of the chaps at Blackfriars, but I'm impressed with their video of their seemingly full-on training schedule.



Having just listened to the Oscott seminarians brand new CD, let's just hope their football is half as good as their singing and then I know they'll hammer those dastardly Dominicans.

Mark it up in your diary, pray for Oscott and prepare to cheer on the winners!

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom

On Tuesday I will be returning to my alma mater, Oscott College. It is for the occasion of the College Feast, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. The tradition, if it is that yet, has been to invite the Top Year (as we once were) back to celebrate with the community the Solemnity of our patron. It's a great day, and I recall writing about it in the Oscotian magazine a while ago. I'm excited to hear that the fourth year will also be at college, so it promises to be an exciting reunion of sorts. I'm only sorry that we cannot all be there (the 'top year', that is) but our turn will come the following month.

It is strange to go back; to return from whence we came. There can be a sense of not wanting to go back, but rather to be concentrating on the path ahead. It's good to question, however, can you really appreciate where you are heading if you do not see from where you have come? I'm not so sure. Nonetheless, I am filled with many thoughts about this journey. Incredibly, but perhaps understandably, I do not miss college. I don't miss the institutional nature of seminary and I do not miss the often times limiting nature of the beast. Friends, on the other hand, I miss incredibly. This is, I think, true of life. It is the people who make the place, not the bricks and mortar and still less the routine. It is the very real interaction of another human being which makes for the joy of life.

When I go back, then I can appreciate where I am going. I'm looking forward to the view of life in the rear-view mirror, as it were.

(I hope you will forgive two pictures in this post.
I just couldn't decide between them!)

Thanks Guys...

... just want to say Thank You, publicly, to the guys from Oscott who travelled all the way down to Coventry to go out for a meal. It was wonderful to see you, and to know that all continues to go from strength to strength in my alma mater.

Fr Kieran Anderson

Today, we are asked to keep in our prayers, Fr Kieran Anderson. May God bless his ministry.

If you have not already done so, you may like to visit the website, http://www.ukpriest.org/, for all sorts of information on priesthood, or http://www.yearforpriests.org/, which has been put together by the Birmingham Vocations team and includes some information from yours truly, or the Oscott Seminarians weblog here, which includes a picture of our very own Sacred Heart statue here in the chapel.

Year of the Priest

Many better writers than I are commenting on the Year of the Priest and so I want to mark the start of this wonderful year by recalling a simple enough event of the day.

We have, as a community, begun praying at morning office for all priests and by name one of the Birmingham Priests. 19 June was Canon Allport. The key moment, for me, of the day was when, during the Mass with the year 6 pupils, four of our resident staff stepped forward after the homily, gathered around the Altar, and committed their lives to the service of the people of God.

You couldn't ask for anything more exquisite than to see four grown men give up everything to follow Jesus and to show that most especially in the way they minister to his body on earth, the Church. You want to know what priesthood is? Well, it's that. Nothing more and nothing less. In their simple, everyday action and words they became more perfectly configured to Christ.

God bless you reverend fathers.

And in the end - we partied

This is a newsy update.

We are in the final throes of life in seminary. I use the term 'we' in a sort of old fashioned way since in reality it applies just to those who are preparing to leave Oscott this summer. The rest will return and will no doubt keep us up to date via the new blog, which is covering a great little story from Michael P.

Last night, with room almost packed and ready to go, we had a fabulous party, though I do declare this myself and I was the host. Two others have corroborated the bon vivant atmosphere, however. Lots of clearing away to be done, and thanks to my brothers it has been done in record time, and wondering now what to do with the remaining bottles. Party anyone? For the celebrations we enjoyed the, now famous, summer punch though I'm sworn to never reveal the contents. Literally or metaphorically.

Monday, at the deadly hour of 2.30am, we head to Heathrow and then on to Assisi via Rome for the annual pilgrimage. Even with the recession we have managed to pull it off to get to Italy and I, for one, cannot wait to get there. Some great housekeeping has, no doubt, been undertaken to fund the trip. I have almost been to Assisi once but never quite made it. Promises to be wonderfully spiritually uplifting and I'm poised with some good reading material. Will tell all upon our return.

Right - best get on with packing. Now, where did I put that box?

Oh, and the picture - not the party, since those photographs are not for public consumption yet very funny! This picture - just because we can. Nuns having fun.

Mgr Louis McRaye and the Diner

On Tuesday, 2nd June, the college celebrated a marvelous end of the exam schedule in one of those "moments of life that make it worth living", said one of my friends, in talking about the blessing of Louis' Diner, here at the seminary. Let me explain.

Mgr Louis McRaye, a saint in the making, was the Spiritual Director at Oscott for 11 years through the 1980s and into the 1990s. In his time he always encouraged the students to gather around a table and share a meal. As he said, on Tuesday, you can really get to know someone around the table. Such was his hospitality and draw to encourage socialising amongst the student body of 103 guys that he gave up the ground floor to his bailiwick whilst on the staff. Henceforth, this diner/kitchen has been known as Louis' Diner and is an amazing facility for student use.

It has, I'm sure, been blessed many times over during the years, but the current students wanted to have the good old monsignor come by and bless it for good measure. Fr Louis is now 94 and celebrating a mere 47 years as a priest. Though this has been a desire for as long as I've been in seminary, which is six years, it was high time we did it. So it was organised. We have his picture on the wall, and now have the great honour that he has blessed us and the room. Fr Dave Cain was up to Oscott to visit one of the Nottingham students, Neil, since he is the Vocations Director now. Fr Dave told us that he was one of the students who had decorated it during the late 1990s when it came into being as a Diner. What wonderful fortuitous coincidence that we should have the entire history of the Diner present at the same time.

We enjoyed a wonderful, informal High Tea for the occassion, thanks to Craig, Michael and Craig for their expert guidance in such matters. Though the great Anne did bake for the occasion, it was a Tea to remember, including two options of tea, with leaves of course. The Fortnum and Mason smoked earl grey didn't do it for me in the event.

Mgr McRaye regaled the students with tales of his life and priesthood and had them, quite literally, sitting at his feet; though this picture shows them kneeling almost in a state of reverence. It was interesting to observe the dynamics of the staff and students in the room. Now this is not a criticism of the students, but we can be a little reticent with visitors to college, of whom there are a great many, and the staff are left to do most the hospitality. On this occasion the worm had turned. The students appeared to be mesmerised by the presence on the man. Do you know why? I think it is because from Fr McRaye shone out the joy of priesthood. He has a wonderful twinkle in his eye and you can just tell he's enjoyed every moment of the last 47 years. Golden jubilees are, one supposes, always a time of joy and excitement, but I think Fr Louis is very much looking forward to his. He told us he'd spent one summer marrying many of his students from his chaplaincy days at Warwick university. 30,000 miles he clocked pootling around the country to keep his promises. What a witness!

Thank you to all who helped organise the event, those who baked, and cooked (there were 72 vol au vents), and brewed and drove and blessed and proclaimed the gospel and came along. You have all contributed to the coming Kingdom. One of those moments, and you really had to be there, was when he spoke to Roger. Now Roger knew Fr Louis from his time at Warwick university and was in his early years of seminary when Father was on the staff. After Fr Louis left Roger took some time away from seminary an d has returned, due to be ordained on 27th of this month. As Roger introduced himself again, Fr Louis was heard to ask "are you still here" suggesting poor Roger had never been away and spent. A hoot, but like I say, you had to be there.

As we drove the monsignor back to his presbytery we couldn't help but seek his pearl of wisdom for a long and joyous priesthood. Simple, he says, pray and visit. Be faithful to the Lord and visit families whenever you can. Advice that has been repeated time and again and one I plan to follow.

Dedication of the Church

Some thoughts from a homily I preached on Friday, the Dedication of the Chapel at Oscott. Interestingly, though the chapel was consecrated on 29 May 1838, it was not dedicated, to Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, until two days later.

Dedication of the Church – 29 May 2009

A braver man than I would have stayed in the pulpit and preached, but I am no Fr Newman, who sat almost exactly there in 1852, in this chapel; but I am no Fr Newman, and this is no Second Spring. According to James Doyle’s unfinished oil painting, on the landing, Newman was sat next to Fr Manning at the Synod of Westminster, the newly restored hierarchy of our lands. Sitting where I am now in front of the altar like so many bishops who grace our presence these days, Cardinal Wiseman, the first Archbishop of Westminster. Just behind him, was one Fr John Wheble, he of the stained glass window fame, and MC to the first Synod of Westminster, over there was Provost Weedall and just to my left was Bishop Ullathorne who is wearing his beloved and stunning pectoral cross now adorning the current Archbishop of Westminster. With the religious (Benedictine and Jesuit) sat by the clavinova, truly the great and the good of the Church, seemingly dead now and yet very much alive in these hallowed stones.

Here stood the new triumphant Church! But these men were not triumphant in and of themselves. Oh no, they were triumphant because of what they were about, or rather who they were about. St John teaches us in the book of the Apocalypse “You see this city? Here God lives among men. He will make his home among them.” It is tempting to imagine a place in which men gathered in His name when suddenly there came a great whoosh and the Spirit entered their lives to carry them on to the mission. They waited for the Paraclete, promised so long ago. Do you think the Spirit soared that fateful day in 1852 and drove a young and vital Fr Wheble out from this chapel to the Crimea and to face almost certain death in the most appalling conditions, to be with the dying catholic soldiers as he ministered to them?

I tell you, it was ever thus. The Spirit is here now and driving you onward to mission. You are not merely engaged in being examined this week to demonstrate your youthful pride remembering theories and doctrines and philosophies. NO. You are being prepared for mission! You sit in this chapel today, the living Church. What you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to God himself.

God does not ask what percentage you achieve in your exam or what classification of degree you get, nor even if you passed or failed. God asks only one question: my son, did you give a good account of yourself? Did you use all of the gifts and talents and wonder of your being to show your love for me? Did you, my son?

Our gospel today teaches one thing, if nothing else, and it is this: this chapel is not the Church, the body of Christ; it is not the temple of old. Today we celebrate the dedication of this chapel in 1838, but it is not the grandeur of the seven hour liturgy, or the staggering costs incurred by Pugin, who MC’d the event, nor even that Oscott on this day was the first in the country to dispense with the fiddleback chasuble and go for the full Gothic!

Today is a living memory of those who have gone before us and who teach us so much for today. One such luminary is John Wheble. Nicolas Wiseman, when returning to Oscott for the third synod of Westminster in 1855 said of his beloved MC: “Who amongst us that saw him conducting the ceremonies of our fist synod with so much grace, accuracy and cheerfulness, did not feel how earnest and holy a duty he considered his to be, and how deeply he reverenced and prized the rubrics of the Church, and all her ceremonial enactments? And seeing him still so young, and so fitted for his office, did we not naturally expect to find him here today directing our functions, instead of our being seated beneath his monument, or rather receiving light through his memorial, as we do through his example.” Those who inspire us to march on to battle, no matter the cost, inspire us to victory for Christ. We know the hallowed ground upon which we walk and we remember. We are proud to be Oscotians, we are proud to be the Church, and together we will succeed.

Please pray for the men of Oscott, currently immersed in the examination schedule!

Novena to the Holy Spirit

If you'd like to join the community of Oscott in prayer, then a simple way is to join our novena for Pentecost. Each morning, we're praying the following:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Holy Spirit, divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate to you my understanding, my heart, my will, my whole being for time and for eternity. May my understanding always be submissive to your heavenly inspirations and to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, of which you are the infallible guide; may my heart be ever inflamed with love of God and of my neighbour; may my will always conform to the divine will, and may my whole life be a faithful imitation of the life and virtues of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:

Habemus Blogam!

Go check out the new blog which the students of Oscott Colllege are launching this very day. It promises to be excellent reading, if I say so myself. Their mission statement says:

The Seminarians of St Mary's College have created this blog in honour of the Year For Priests which the Holy Father has promulgated for the coming year.

With what seems like days to go now, I better get adding my piece soon.

You can get it direct on http://www.yearofthepriest.blogspot.com/

Great name, guys.

Au revoir, +Vincent

How do you know when you meet a saint? What are the characteristics of the saints? What do they have in common, since they seem such a disparate group of people? Well, Oscar Wilde said, “every saint has a past and every saint has a future.”

Today, I want to share with you a private moment in the life of the seminary. Whilst it is true to say we live very public lives in so many ways: in seminary, occasionally, we get a glimpse of heaven on earth, and these moments are often quite private, enjoyed almost like revelation it’s very self. Today, effectively, the college said au revoir to Archbishop Vincent, before he heads south to Westminster in little over a week. We enjoyed all the formal liturgical events and shared a lovely meal, complete with other guests at the college, so it was not particularly private. There were, however, speeches made, appreciation shared and gifts given to mark the occasion. They were thoughtful and touching tokens of our appreciation.

It was an emotional time. We have been blessed in having +Vincent with us these past years. I have known no other Bishop of the seminary whilst here, and do you know, if I may be brutally honest, I don’t think I appreciated just how blessed we were; I was. Today I witnessed firsthand just what a good man he is. I suspect it has not been an easy job, leading the Catholic community of Birmingham, and most certainly it is not going to be an easy task leading Westminster, effectively becoming our national spiritual leader.

Archbishop Vincent said he sought only to do his best and by golly I do declare that he means to do so. It was Saint Thomas Aquinas who said; that the saints may enjoy their beatitude and the grace of God more abundantly they are permitted to see the punishment of the damned in hell. Not for a single moment do I suggest that Birmingham is anything like hell, indeed Archbishop Vincent makes clear that we are a most wonderful diocese, but to those who have been critical of Archbishop Vincent, I say only this: we were much blessed to have him in the Midlands, and will be twice blessed now he speaks with faith and confidence for our nation. Indeed, the Spirit has made clear his intention.

10km and 30km

I am not sure if you have had the opportunity to sponsor our fine runners here at Oscott, but if you have not, then do please send donations to

Oscott Action for Justice and Peace
Oscott College
Chester Road
Birmingham
B73 5AA

We are running 10km on Tuesday as a sponsored jog around our grounds. There seems no definitive distance around the seminary, but it is rumoured to be about 1mile. We are, therefore, running 7 times around ensuring we have surpassed the minimum necessary to complete 10km. I might add, incidentally, that when I say 'we', we are talking in the royal sense. If that makes any sense, at all.

Talking of 'we', royal or otherwise, I am very pleased indeed to announce my successor as Dean of Seminarians to be Michael Collis. He of eastangliaseminarians blogging fame. They have announced a secret coup of the seminary in due course! Hah, their plan has been foiled. Don't write, on a blog, what you don't wish the world to know. Come on, guys, it's not rocket science. Hats off to the chaps, though. There are four of them here, and each and every one of them is running the 10km on Tuesday. Meaning they will, of course, be too exhausted to engage in any form of coup.

On a far more serious note. I was distressed to read of further attempts by the Vietnam authorities to undermine Catholicism in the their country. They attempted to prevent people travelling to Hanoi to join in the golden anniversary celebrations of the Redemptorists. Read more about it, from Independent Catholic News, here. The authorities forced the drivers of coaches bringing Catholics into the Capital to turn around and go home, forcing those who wished to continue the journey to walk 30km into the city. It will not surprise you to hear that they marched on. Well done to them. God bless them, always.

We have three seminarians at Oscott from Vietnam, Linh, Thai and Long. Remember them in your prayers. Each of them far from home and so very committed to the Faith. It is to help with Justice and Peace in our world that we are engaging in a sponsored run. The money raised will help local and international charities, but it is not just about the money. It is also about raising awareness and encouraging others to live out the faith, and sometimes that includes doing something. It was Eleanor Roosevelt who said; when you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

Santa Maria Del Mar, Barcelona

Hey folks. Back in the land of the blogosphere and back to seminary today. This will, in fact, be the last time I 'return' to seminary as a seminarian. Or at least, to be specific, there is no more major holidays, half term holidays or even mini breaks from seminary. Thus, the next time I 'return' to seminary will be as an ordained priest, please God. Not that this makes it any easier to return, I hasten to add. Ah, return it must be. Pray for us all, that we may have a fruitful final term of the year, that we may listen ever more attentively to the prompting of the Spirit and that we may be truly disciples of the Lord.

Right now, I am basking in the memory of my trip to Barcelona. Such a wonderful trip with so much done and yet such relaxation at the same time. Truly, I recommend this wonderful city. Some highlights include, of course the cathedral of the Sagrada Familia, being on Las Ramblas during the festivities of St George's Day (they make us English look such miserable dour faces) and the wonderful Santa Maria Del Mar. Tony had put me onto this Gothic church, the size of a cathedral, and suggested a great book about a young Spaniard's relationship with Our Lady of the Sea. I read in the guide book that this church was built in just 59 years, resulting in only one style of architecture, rather than the mish mash one associates with major church building, and that style is consistently Gothic. It was, indeed, beautiful and splendid and noble. Well worth the visit.

Goodbye, yellow brick road

An interesting choice for a title, don't you think? I'm not sure what attracted me to this particular thought, save to say that I wanted to say something about leaving Oscott and going on placement. It is, at least in my mind at the time of writing, the song from Elton John's 7th studio album. It is, indeed, the album title. Whilst I was surfing around for a suitable picture, I came across an interesting comment about the song.

The song, specifically the yellow brick road, is a reference to The Wizard of Oz. Let me quote from songfacts.com, the note:

The Yellow Brick Road is an image taken from the movie The Wizard of Oz. In the movie, Dorothy and her friends follow the yellow brick road in search of the magical Wizard of Oz, only to find they had what they were looking for all along.

Whilst I reflect on leaving Oscott (which is, after all, only temporary) then it seems very apt to talk of searching for some magic. I think about priesthood and all that my life will entail, and I seek the all-seeing, all-knowing solution to life. The thing that will get me through. I hear you calling out - stop it already! I know it is God, I know. Sometimes, just sometimes, it is nice to search and find rather than not even bother setting out from home at all because you know the answers. Does that make sense? Of course it doesn't, but I hope you know what I mean. Even though, like Dorothy and the others, that which we seek was with us all along, it often takes the journey to find it.

So, what do I mean? I'm far from home, excited and ready for the challenge/journey. So, bring it on! The answer is already within, but boy do I intend to enjoy the searching.

Conversion

A while ago, I blogged about the Walk With Me series of pod casts available on the CJM website. There are a couple of 'conversion' stories from Craig and Pádraig, both students for the priesthood, based here at Oscott. They come from completely different backgrounds in terms of their finding of the Faith, each fascinating and each absorbing. The introduction, by our Rector, Mgr Crisp, invites us to think about our own journey of Faith, whilst listening to Craig's and Pádraig's tale.

Our individual journey, does, at least at first glance, seem private and individual and personal to each of us. Yet, our journey is one which is, fundamentally, shared. First with the Lord, and then with another and eventually with the whole Church. It is, whilst reflecting on my own 'individual' journey that I come to see, of course, that from the beginning, it was always a journey which was communal. Like the body of Christ which we are, as church, we are utterly dependant upon one another.

What happens to one has an effect upon each of the other parts of the body. Even if this might seem an insignificant effect, it is, nonetheless, an effect and we do not know the full extent of that effect. I suppose it is what a chaos theorist might term the butterfly effect, or even the China syndrome, for those of a 1980s background, like myself. The concept that a butterfly beats it's wings in one part of the world and a hurricane wind results elsewhere. What we consider of no effect, does in fact have a huge effect on someone else.

Whilst we are fasting, praying and giving alms throughout Lent. The temptation, to consider our meagre efforts make no difference outside our own individual world, can be strong, and we have to rely on Faith to sustain us in our darkest moments. At this point in Lent, perhaps when we have failed to be as strong as we initially hoped we might be, or even have slipped into pride that we are doing better than we had hoped, it is good to take stock and think of the effect we may already have brought about. Somewhere, the Kingdom of God is present as a direct result of the actions, or omissions, we have personally effected. You did it!

A worried man

Today, I am feeling the pressure of blogging and worrying just where I will get the time to fit it all in. I apologise to those who look forward to updates on this site, if they have not been as often as you would like. Today, therefore, I am just going to ramble, and see what comes out.

As I am typing, in the background is my Archbishop, talking about the Walk With Me series of Lenten reflections. It's a way to update and also to write a blog entry. I suppose as close as I get to multi-tasking. Having just re-read that sentence, I ought to clarify that the Archbishop is on the itunes, not in my room, obviously! He is talking of conversion, and the need for continual conversion. How appropriate. Just today I was considering the need to pray regularly for a spirit of conversion, a prayer to be made hourly, in order that every moment is offered for the building of the Kingdom.

As Henry is writing on his blog, about reading the Introduction to the Devout Life,

Therefore, Philothea, we must enlarge our contrition as much as possible, so that it may embrace everything that is connected with sin.

If we don't approach life with a heart full of contrition, then how do we move toward the unapproachable light? Only with contrition can we learn to forgive ourselves and let His light shine in all the dark places, and then conversion begins to take place as we are born anew.

Talk of Henry; I am under pressure to produce the Dean's Diary. This is an article, which I need to write, to go into this year's Osctian magazine. They are available via our website, see my previous post about this. Henry is our most noble Editor for this year's production.

Tomorrow is an extremely busy day, culminating in a public talk by Gerald O'Collins SJ, here at Oscott. If you are in the area, then you would be most welcome to come along. It starts at 8pm, is free, and you don't have to book. We end with Compline, usually about 9.30pm. Fr O'Collins is talking about"What do we really owe St. Paul?" There is more information here.

With this in mind, I'm off to pray and prepare for the day ahead.

Walk with me...

Some of the students from Oscott have helped CJM Music record a series of podcasts to accompany the Walk With Me series of Lenten prayers.

You do not hear my dulcet tones, happily, but having just listened to Ash Wednesday's offering, you are in for a treat if you take the time to follow the links and listen up.

To go directly to CJM's link, press here.

There is, of course, a booklet with daily prayers and reflections which you can use too. These are available widely across the Archdiocese in every Catholic Church. To find you nearest - follow this link.

Have a blessed and refreshing Lent.

Congratulations Canons

Archbishop Vincent Nichols admitted Canon Mervyn Tower, Parish Priest of St John the Evangelist, Banbury and Canon Michael Neylon, Parish Priest of St Austin, Stafford, as Canons of the Metropolitan Chapter, says our diocesan website.

Pictured (L-R) are Canon Mervyn Tower, Bishop David McGough, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Bishop Philip Pargeter, Canon Michael Neylon and Bishop William Kenny.

Congratulations to both, but especially to Fr Mervyn, who taught me several courses in Old Testament scripture study. The usual caveats apply, any ignorance is on my lack of attention and by no means his excellent skills as a Tutor. Fr Mervyn 'retired' from teaching at Oscott last year, again. Very sadly missed by all.

Fr Mervyn also led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land last summer, on which I was lucky enough to be a participant. It was truly wonderful. Who knows, I may even publish an article I have written for the forthcoming Oscotian magazine, here on this blog. Copies are available via the Oscott Website.

It says:

[If you would like a copy] Then just send a cheque, made out to “Oscott College” for the sum of £2.50 (inc. P&P). If you would like to subscribe to the 2009 edition of the Oscotian Magazine please add a note to that effect. And send to: Oscotian Editor, Oscott College, Chester Road, Sutton Coldfield, B73 5AA, UK.

Oscott in the Snow

Thought you might enjoy this rather wonderful picture of times past, or so it seems! Needless to say, prize for the best caption, on a postcard please.