WHEN the parents, pupils and teachers of St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School celebrated the school’s anniversary last month, they delved into more than 150 years of history.
The anniversary celebrations marked 40 years since the school was opened at its present site on Radnor Drive, Marshside.
But St Patrick’s history goes back much further, and an anniversary ball on Friday, July 11, will give parents and teachers an insight into school life in the 19th century.
Eve McNamara, secretary of the St Patrick’s Parent Teacher Association, has organised the ball and has been researching the origins of the school.
She said: “We are celebrating 40 years at the present site but actually the history dates back to the 1840s when Irish immigrants came over to the area after the Potato Famine.�

Former headteacher Sister Paul returns to St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School to celebrate its 40th anniversary on Radnor Drive

With the help of Martyn Senior, secretary and manager of Hesketh Golf Club, and renowned local historian Dr Harry Foster, Eve has uncovered Ordnance Survey maps showing a cluster of 47 houses known as ‘Little Ireland’ on what is now Hesketh Golf Course.
Newspaper stories from the mid-19th century paint an unappealing picture of ‘Little Ireland’ as a slum, with reports of fights, murders and thefts.
The 1876 Southport Directory shows its inhabitants mainly to have been labourers, cocklers and fishermen.
Among the squalor, however, a school was set up by the Sisters of Charity of St Paul, who were stationed at St Marie’s on the Sands.
Their aim was to save the children from the long walk to their school on Seabank Road.
Dr Foster’s research shows that two cottages in ittle Irelandwere assigned to become a school.
The plot would only have cost £200 to buy and convert for its new purpose.

The Southport Visiter photographed children in the new kitchen at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School in 1968

In 1904, the school moved to the site of St Marie’s on Bath Street and in 1968, a purpose-built school was erected with seven classrooms on the current site on Radnor Drive.
The Southport Visiter covered the opening of the school, describing it as “bright and modern� with “up-to-date equipment including built-in units and the latest desks�.
There were 182 pupils under the guiding hand of headteacher Sister Mary.
St Patrick’s enjoyed the first of its 40th anniversary celebrations in May when former headteacher Sister Paul returned for a special ceremony. Sister Paul ran the school from 1968 to 1975, and now works in Romania.
Pupils released balloons and planted a tree to mark the occasion, and held a special lunch with Sister Paul, whom Eve described as a “very entertaining lady�.
The celebrations will culminate with the anniversary ball on July 11.
Former staff and pupils will celebrate alongside current staff at Southport Floral Hall, and Eve’s research will be presented in a display.
Tickets for the black-tie event are £25, available from St Patrick’s School office on 01704 225906 or by calling Sue Boyle on 07968 371217.

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