cence of a young boy, mildly curious, seeing adventure and fun in every stir of life around him'. Father Kelly was like that'.

His greatest material monument was the erection of a very fine new church at St Patrick's, Stafford, which was built under his leadership and indefatigable years of toil: a church of which he was so justly proud and thankful to God and to all who had helped him in its foundation.

It was with profound shock and regret that I was given the sad news of his sudden death on Monday evening, 28 October last, after suffering a heart attack following his last Mass which he was privileged to offer on the previous day: the Feast of Christ the King. We had spent our annual holiday together the previous month.

Cotton College and the English College, Valladolid, have cause for pride in claiming Father Kelly as a most worthy 'alumnus' and a priest who retained to the end of his life a conscious and joyous sense of indebtedness to God for his good fortune in receiving his training for the priesthood within their confines. May all who were blessed in knowing Father Kelly retain their happy memo ries of him and never fail him in the charity of their prayers, that, through their prayers for his good soul, he may receive his eternal reward, he may remember us and help us towards the final end of our earthly toil. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Cyril A Gryce

GUY VIVIAN VINCENT BEESLEY (1904-1906)

On leaving Cotton in 1906, Vivian Beesley went as an office boy to the firm of John Walsh (Birmingham) during the time of the firm's founder. He became Director of the firm in 1927 and Chairman in 1937. He was extremely well-known in the steel business in Birmingham.

In the 1914-1S War, he served in the Machine Gun Guards (as they were then called), was wounded and, at the end of the war, held the rank of Second Lieutenant. In the 1939-45 War, he served in the Royal Observer Corps.

Mr Beesley's wife pre-deceased him in 1948, but he leaves two sons: Jock, who won an Athletics Blue at Cambridge and is now with the BBC in London, and Bill, a surgeon in Dublin.

lie retired from the Chairmanship of John Walsh in 1965 when the founder's grand-son took over the firm. During his later years he lived in a Cotswold stone farmhouse near Shipston-on-Stour: this was his home when he died, at the age of 77, in November 1968.

THOMAS KNOWLES (1895-1899)

After leaving Cotton in 1899, Thomas Knowles, a native of Birkenhead, spent much of his early life in France, Spain and Algeria. lie later became a very prominent figure in public life in Ireland, being a member of the Board of Governors of St Louis High School, and Chairman of the Board of Guardians. He was also a member of his local Rural Council and of many hospital and education committees. He had a deep interest in litera

ture and languages, but his main interest lay in music; he was a very accomplished pianist and organist. A man of great personal integrity, he was highly respected by people of all creeds and classes, as was proved by the size and representation at his funeral.

He leaves a widow: Winifred, two sons: Oswald in Australia and the Rev D Knowles of St Peter's College, Wexford, and three daughters: Kathleen, Valentine (Mrs 191 Farrell) and Ursula (Mrs M McErlane). He was buried at St Colman's Cemetery, Massforth, Kilkeel after his son had celebrated Requiem 'Mass.

FATHER OSWALD CALDERBANK (1902-1908)

Father Oswald Calderbank was born in Birkenhead in 1889; he was at Cotton from 1902 to 1908, and studied for the priesthood at Ushaw. He was ordained priest for the diocese of Shrewsbury on 29 May 1915. He served as curate in a number of parishes in the diocese; as first parish priest of Romiley from 1928 to 3939: and

as parish priest of Whitchurch, Shropshire, for twentynine years until his death last year.

In the material sphere his main achievements were as curate at Runcorn, where, temporarily in charge of the parish, he was responsible for the virtual rebuilding of the prefabricated structure that served as a church; and at Romiley, where he inspired and directed the building of the present church.

But such things are not the centre of the life of a priest, and Father Calderbank was simply a man delighted to be a priest, who took a constant and lifelong joy in performing well the ordinary duties of a priest's life. It showed in the reverence with which he celebrated Mass; in his sympathetic devotion to the sick and the dying; in the enthusiasm with which, a few years ago, he prepared for the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of his ordination with a retreat as devout as that before his ordination itself. He loved being a priest, and it showed.

His was a straightforward character. lie said what he thought - in the pulpit he thought out loud - with a simplicity that sometimes shocked, and a lack of guile that few of us could emulate, lie was a kind man, who could remember to thank others for the services that are usually taken for granted. The boy who served his daily Mass always received a small tip at the end of the week; and in old age it became his custom to thank, politely and most unrubrically, the servers who handed him the wine and water at the Offertory of the Mass. Somehow. that custom summed him up; simple, straightforward, and kind. 'May he rest in peace.

Brendan Hoban

PAUL FITZGERALD (19G4-1967)

On January 12th, 1969, Paul Fitzgerald was waiting at a bus stop when he was given a lift to his home in Stratfordon-Avon. The car in which he was travelling crashed, and he died instantly.

He came to Cotton in 1964 and went into the Second
Form. He was quiet and unassuming with a good sense

7