Time for some Newman Nostalgia - and another incredible memory Dale Neill (St Joseph’s College 1961) shared with us recently.
Back in around 1958, just after the west wing of St Joseph’s College on Salvado Road, Subiaco/Wembley, had been built, the Brothers wanted a new shelter, and (yes it's true) the boys were asked to bring as many bricks as they could, from wherever they could, to build it.
The Brothers promised the class bringing in the most bricks would be given half a day’s holiday, so work began in earnest!
Most boys enthusiastically pinched bricks from around home, or the rights of way in Subiaco, where people laid down two brick tracks so their cars weren’t bogged in sand.
But Dale, who lived in Marlow Street, Wembley, at the time, was far more enterprising! He brought a hill trolley and took all his bricks from building sites in the area. These included the Wembley Police Station on the corner of Cambridge and Marlow Streets, which was under construction at the time. The boys have always wondered if it ended up being a bit smaller than it was supposed to be!
Later, Dale confessed his sin and was mightily relieved when Father Brosnan said, “That’s not so bad. It’s all in the line of God’s work!"
