Cousins Ray Guilford & Bert (Bear) Worsnop




Mt. St. Marys,
Greenmeadows.
Sun. 5th May ’68.

Dear Mum & Dad,

I heard from John Kavanagh that you are all well. John arrived here on Saturday and we got him to stay the night. He left after breakfast this morning.

Fr. Buckley is here at the moment. I will be interviewed tomorrow.

I got a letter from Bear the other day. I don’t know if you will have heard from them for some time or not so here is some news.

Bear is going over to England in September to study at the School of Navigation (you remember last Christmas he was getting interviews and that, while staying at home).

Bear got a “B” Bursary last year. Ray got 284 marks for his School Cert. Jane just missed out on U.E. by sitting, but is now at Training College. At the time of writing she was “on section” at Ngongotaha Primary School.

We leave for Massey today week. I suppose Tony is getting all flustered about the 18th!

I suppose Leo is on holiday after finishing his 1st term at Silverstream. I was just thinking – does Paul Avery still go to Silverstream or is he going to Kapiti?

I was just thinking about how lucky John Kavanagh is, to be going home for the holidays! Walking up and down in the dark saying the Rosary a minute ago, looking out at the “night lights” of Napier, and listening to the cars go passed – it makes you realize what you’ve given up; possibly for the rest of your life.

We had a “Biblical Antiquities” exam on Thursday. We won’t find out our marks (unless we fail and have to sit it again). The marks are sent over to Rome. Our other exams are in eight weeks time (then 3 weeks holiday), so I will have a week to catch up on after I have been to Massey.

We started playing Tagg Rugby last week. I had my first game on Friday. There are eleven a side. There are four teams – I am in the one called the “Norfolk Islands”. You don’t tackle which makes it very fast & exhausting. I, (surprisingly perhaps?) quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately, they play it every Monday, Tues. Thurs. & Friday afternoon I hear. (Wednesday and Saturday are work afternoons). So you can see that English is getting less and less time. They recommend the minimum of 12 to 15 hours a week on English (Massey recommends) but I could only fit that in by doing 1 ½ hours on Mon, Tues, Thurs, & Fri, & 2 hrs. on Saturday & 4 hours on Sunday. I think if I started the year again I wouldn’t do English.

I played Benediction on Wednesday when the Superior General arrived & it went quite well. I am now learning how to accompany Gregorian Chant because I will probably, though not certainly, have to be organist at Highden next year.

The next visiting day is Pentecost Sunday.

The students are putting on a play next Saturday night, but I am not in it thank goodness.

Well, I think that that is all the news.

Love from
Bruce




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