Preston

The SHCJ were originally invited to Preston by the Jesuit Fathers establishing mission schools there in 1848. However, Cornelia Connelly was persuaded to take up the Convent at St Leonards-on-Sea by Cardinal Wiseman. The Society finally began its work in this proud Catholic town in 1853 when five sisters arrived there. They first taught at St Ignatius’ Parish school and soon took on more schools: St Wilfrid’s in 1854, St Walburge’s in 1857 as well as the English Martyrs’ and St Mary’s in 1871. In 1875, the SHCJ purchased No.23 Winckley Square and so began the Holy Child High School which was to remain in this historic part of Preston until 1971 when the school was closed.  

The archives contain vivid descriptions of the SHCJ nuns who taught at Winckley Square and life at the school. In the earliest of these written memories, an ex-pupil, who attended the school during the 1900s, describes dancing lessons held in the school hall during each morning interval. Many SHCJ sisters attended Winckley Square as girls; one such sister was Sr Helen Forshaw. In her reminiscence, Sr Helen commended the work of ‘patient Mother Mary Dismas’ who ‘mouth bristling with pins, coaxed playclothes into wonderful shape around one’. Another sister recalled the ‘vitality’ of her students and reassuring Sister Mary Fidelis that ‘the scholastic standards of Winckley Square were being maintained’ after she had checked in on the sister’s class to find ‘a convincing rendering of an enraged Cleopatra’.

 A community continued in Preston into the 21^st Century teaching in local schools, running playgroups and contributing in many other ways to the local area.