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Saint Thomas College
This building was designed and built by Bishop Barry after the first St. Thomas burned in 1919. It became the administration Building of St. Thomas University until the institution was transferred to Fredericton in 1964.
Saint Thomas College University in 1940, Located in Chatham
Saint Thomas University in 1955
St. Thomas Students in 1920
St. Thomas Students in 1927
COTC - St. Thomas College, Chatham, circa 1955
COTC - St. Thomas College, Chatham, circa 1955
STU 50 Year Reunion of 1964 Graduates
Evacuated Overseas: Dr. Bernard Mooney Reflects on his Time at St. Thomas during World War 2
Dr. Bernard Mooney remembers the exact moment his life changed He was walking from the St. Thomas College campus towards downtown Chatham when he heard church bells ring.
“It was my birthday - May 8th - and I remember thinking ‘How do they know it’s my birthday?’ I thought, ‘What on earth is going on?' When I got back to the college, it was the end of the war in Europe. It was May 8, 1945. That is etched upon my mind.”
The bells meant Bernard could go home to his family in England. He was one of the millions of children who were evacuated from England during World War 2. As part of Operation Pied Piper, approximately 3.5 million British citizens - most of them children - were evacuated from urban centres that risked being bombed to rural areas in Britain, as well as overseas to Canada, Australia, New Zealand. South Africa, and the United States. Bernard and his younger brother Ged were sent to live with the McLellan family on Cameron Street in Moncton, NB. There, he learned to skate and play hockey on the family's outdoor rink.
Two years into his stay in Moncton, the family had another baby and they no longer had space for Bernard to stay, so he moved to Chatham where he lived in the St. Thomas dormitories despite only being in Grade 8 and attending the local school. He attended St. Thomas College the following two years.
Because he had learned to skate and play hockey in Moncton, he wanted to continue in Chatham.
"St. Thomas College had a hockey team. But I was too young to play with them, so l got permission from the priest in charge to start a junior team. We managed to get permission to go with our team to play a team in town. It got us out of study periods, so I was the very popular captain of the junior team!"
A budding chemist, young Bernard had the priest's approval to spend his money on chemicals and supplies to make homemade fireworks.
“I had all this in my locker in the basement. When I think about it now, it shouldn't have been allowed. But I was extremely careful. I used to just blow up jars and make fireworks." he recalls.
"There was a chemistry lab for the older students in the same building and I remember standing outside there thinking, ‘Oh I wish I could go in there.’"
His love for chemistry continued once he returned home to England. He eventually got his doctorate and became an Electroanalytical Chemist.
Later in life, he became a therapist who specializes in hypnotherapy and was a founding member of the British Association for the Person-Centred Approach.
Though he returned to England after the war, his connection to Canada remained strong. For many years, he kept in touch with some of the boys he met at St. Thomas and with members of the McLellan family.
“It was my birthday - May 8th - and I remember thinking ‘How do they know it’s my birthday?’ I thought, ‘What on earth is going on?' When I got back to the college, it was the end of the war in Europe. It was May 8, 1945. That is etched upon my mind.”
The bells meant Bernard could go home to his family in England. He was one of the millions of children who were evacuated from England during World War 2. As part of Operation Pied Piper, approximately 3.5 million British citizens - most of them children - were evacuated from urban centres that risked being bombed to rural areas in Britain, as well as overseas to Canada, Australia, New Zealand. South Africa, and the United States. Bernard and his younger brother Ged were sent to live with the McLellan family on Cameron Street in Moncton, NB. There, he learned to skate and play hockey on the family's outdoor rink.
Two years into his stay in Moncton, the family had another baby and they no longer had space for Bernard to stay, so he moved to Chatham where he lived in the St. Thomas dormitories despite only being in Grade 8 and attending the local school. He attended St. Thomas College the following two years.
Because he had learned to skate and play hockey in Moncton, he wanted to continue in Chatham.
"St. Thomas College had a hockey team. But I was too young to play with them, so l got permission from the priest in charge to start a junior team. We managed to get permission to go with our team to play a team in town. It got us out of study periods, so I was the very popular captain of the junior team!"
A budding chemist, young Bernard had the priest's approval to spend his money on chemicals and supplies to make homemade fireworks.
“I had all this in my locker in the basement. When I think about it now, it shouldn't have been allowed. But I was extremely careful. I used to just blow up jars and make fireworks." he recalls.
"There was a chemistry lab for the older students in the same building and I remember standing outside there thinking, ‘Oh I wish I could go in there.’"
His love for chemistry continued once he returned home to England. He eventually got his doctorate and became an Electroanalytical Chemist.
Later in life, he became a therapist who specializes in hypnotherapy and was a founding member of the British Association for the Person-Centred Approach.
Though he returned to England after the war, his connection to Canada remained strong. For many years, he kept in touch with some of the boys he met at St. Thomas and with members of the McLellan family.
STU Stars Article on Rev. John Spratt, C.S.B. and Joseph Currie
St. Thomas College, Pre-1919
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