Comments on: Claudette on deprivation

By: Helga

Helga — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:27:08 +0000

Unfortunately the lack of chocolate, toothpaste (even sanitary pads) was not the worst part of the Labour regime of the seventies and eighties. The worst thing was the lack of security – physical, personal, financial…. Those of us who grew up during those years and who knew nothing better until 1987 (and even then the violence did not stop – remember the mayhem there was on the day those accused of corrupt practices during the 1987 elections were brought to Court?) will always be marked by those years.

By: David Buttigieg

David Buttigieg — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:36:16 +0000

[Daphne – No, not Mabel Strickland.]

arrrrrrgh!!! sorry sorry, got a bit confused – yikes

By: David Buttigieg

David Buttigieg — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:28:08 +0000

“while a private benefactor set up an independent school for boys – St Edward’s – no such private benefactor bothered to do the same for girls.”

AND that benefactor was a woman – Mabel Strickland.

[Daphne – No, not Mabel Strickland.]

By: David Buttigieg

David Buttigieg — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:48:14 +0000

“while a private benefactor set up an independent school for boys – St Edward’s – no such private benefactor bothered to do the same for girls.”

Mind you, the only thing better we had at St Edwards was ample playgrounds! The classes used to be FREEZING and we were in shorts, even during the coldest days of winter. (We obviously couldn’t wear tights) Imagine a poor little 5 year old on a freezing cold windy rainy day in shorts (They couldn’t even reach the knees!)

Not to mention being force fed that horrible cold stuff they used to pass off as food! Most of my hang-ups about food were caused by that!

[Daphne – I have a profound horror of beetroot to this day. The smell of even an uncooked one almost makes me pass out. As for boiled cabbage….]

By: David Buttigieg

David Buttigieg — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:42:31 +0000

Come to think of it do you remember when Mintoff only allowed LM140 (including money spent on hotel) to be taken to Italy?

By: Gerald

Gerald — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:50:52 +0000

Well, it wasn’t exactly Labour’s fault that there were such Jane Eyre facilities for girls in the years gone by. makes you wonder who enforced the status quo in those years.

[Daphne – And your point is….?]

By: janine

janine — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:12:30 +0000

At least Daph, you had five years of it since you came from the Sliema school. I had to endure another seven years of misery in their junior school. They had this building on the left side of the cathedral (until Mintoff took it away from them which was probably the best thing that man has ever done because they were made to provide much, much better premises at Tal- Virtu). This block housed about seven classes with ceiling level windows which were never opened, and no courtyard. The hall served as an assembly, recreation and everything else which happened outside the classes. P.E? non-existent.

Re the nightmares? Well last night, after reading and posting on this blog I had one of them when I was a five year old child, and for some reason, my mother did not plait my hair in the usual manner. So along comes this monstrous nun with a huge pair of scissors to cut my hair off ( and I’m serious here) until a kindly older girl came to my rescue and sorted out my hair. This is one of the many horrendious incidents I and many other girls had to go through and our parents thought it was one of the best schools around.

Thank God it’s all behind us although the scars will remain forever.

[Daphne – Yes, but our parents were in a bit of a fix. It was a choice between a nuns’ school and a state school, and they chose the better option. It just makes you realise how primitive things were when it came to girls’ education. Boys’ church schools were streets ahead in terms of standard of education, premises and facilities for art, science and sport. Girls’ schools? Forget it. On the one hand you had the Convent of the Sacred Heart, which was dedicated to turning out cookie-cutter conformist wives, with a few notable exceptions. On the other hand, you had the more ‘girl-centred’ St Dorothy’s, with its Dickensian premises and facilities, and on the other hand (this must a three-handed monster) there was St Joseph’s Convent, which my mother would have died rather than send us to, even though it was round the corner, because she went there as a boarder and still gets nightmares about it. Why waste a good education on a girl? And while a private benefactor set up an independent school for boys – St Edward’s – no such private benefactor bothered to do the same for girls. Girls just were not worth the trouble.]

By: David Buttigieg

David Buttigieg — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 22:30:38 +0000

“I used to cross the road with a bucket every day for sea water to flush the lavatory, and phone round friends and relations to check who had water that day so that I could take a shower”

On the bright side you could probably talk to three or four friends at the same time seeing that the phone system was so primitive crossed lines were the norm!

They bought our phone system from others who were throwing it away! How cheap is that!

Dear Albert Farrugia,

Please explain to me where history is being manipulated!

By: Gerald

Gerald — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:34:24 +0000

Deprivation is all in a context – now people hanker for the old style of life as when there is an outcry in the papers over the demolition of yet another old building. Sliema in the 1970’s and 80’s was a pretty deprived place to be anyway with all the water cuts and perceived hopelessness at yet another year of Labour government.

By: janine

janine — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:27:49 +0000

Oh my God, don’t remind me of those horrible days in that dreary convent. Those nuns contributed to my miserable childhood. If I had a daughter, I would never, ever dream of sending her there, no matter how state-of-the-art the Zebbug school is today. Do you remember that pokey ” Madonna” courtyard where we could only just snatch a breath of fresh air in which we had our P.E classes playing volley ball (which was considered a waste of time) and also had our lunch breaks? And what about the cold wet winters where we had to move the desks aside because all the ceilings were leaking, shivering cold with our blazers on and a bucket in the middle of the class?

[Daphne – Please. I’ve only just stopped having nightmares in which I have to wake up for school the next morning. Every last horrible detail is etched into my mind.]