An Irish boy in a foreign land Kevin Dwyer WPS‘58

An Irish boy in a foreign land

Top: Kevin (sitting 2nd from left) in the Worth Pueri Cantores who sang in the Royal Albert Hall in 1958

Above: Playing trumpet (2nd from left) at Worth in the Downside Dance Band in 1960

In September 1953, I flew with my Mum from Dublin to London Northolt airport on my way to Tower House at Worth Prep School; I was a very homesick 8 yearold Irish boy in a foreign land. My elder brother Peter had been there before me as well as first cousins, Robin Clapham, Michael & David Legge. We were all destined to go on to Downside in the footsteps of both my father Declan and our grandfather William Dwyer.

Peter was six years older than me, it is necessary to remember that he would have been travelling to Worth only two or three years after the end of WW2. I gather that the Irish boys would travel to Dublin where they were met by Dom Brendan Lavery, a rather colourful Irish character who escorted them to school. He would give each boy a bottle of Irish whiskey, which was then collected from them the other side of customs in Holyhead. At the time some essential items were still in short supply in England!

For the five years I was at Worth a contingent of four or five of us from Cork would travel on the overnight ferry to Fishguard, then take the long train journey to Paddington and on to Worth from Victoria. Cork airport opened in 1961, so for me to attend the Worth Jubilee Jamboree in 2012 the flight to London Gatwick took less than an hour - how times change.

I am a creative and was never an academic - exams and I did not agree. I know that I had early learning difficulties. Looking back over my school reports there is criticism of my inability to concentrate and backwardness, I believe that today there would be suggestions to help.

My happiest memories of Worth are summed up in my school report by Jane Matthews for Summer Term 1958, Subject/Activity: Riding. “I was very pleased when he won the jumping class for boys at our show. He jumped a very difficult horse, a horse that needs to be pushed right into his jumps. He jumped three clear rounds and we finally had to do it on time and he jumped the whole course in 37 seconds. A very good term’s work.”

I remember a monk coming up to me in the Quad and saying to me remember this day. It was 5/5/55. I followed similar dates through to 12/12/12, after that the numbers fell apart! I hope to be around to see 2/2/22.

I really enjoyed the boy scouts run by Dom Michael Smith, the 400+ acres around the School were just perfect for all types of activities. I learnt to play the bugle which was on the path towards subsequently playing the trumpet. We went on Scout camp to Gorey in Co. Wexford where we camped in the grounds of Mount St Benedict, the home of retired Abbot Siegebert Trafford who had been my father’s Headmaster at Downside. The troop was inspected by his Excellency Sean T O’Kelly, second President of the Republic of Ireland. We travelled to County Cork where we camped in the grounds of my own home and my Mum hosted a barbecue for us all.

In 1957 I can remember the excitement of going out at night and looking up into the sky trying to see Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite.

On 13th July 1958 the Worth Pueri Cantores gave their first performance in the Royal Albert Hall, it is lovely to be able to say that I sang there!

Having left Worth in 1958 I came back in 1960 as part of The Downside Dance band who were invited to play at the Worth staff Christmas party.

In 1962 my working life started in Sunbeam, the Cork based textile group in which my father Declan employed 4,500 people. My career developed on the marketing and advertising side which was very interesting as we were Ireland’s largest fashion organisation.

I married Fiona, the love of my life, in 1970, and her family hailed from Scotland. Interestingly, her brother-in-law, the late Henry Hawksley, went to Worth Prep School when it was moved to Downside during WW2.

Two of our three children were born by the time Ireland joined the Common Market and I realised that with cheap textile imports from the Far East I would not be retiring from a job in the textile industry. In 1975 and with my marketing background I moved into the investment side of the banking world.

Twelve years later, voluntary redundancy gave me the opportunity to turn my hobby of photography into my career; I could now be paid to do what I loved to do. As a commercial and industrial photographer I specialised in aerial photography. For 25 years from 1989-2014, I flew around Ireland in helicopters and small planes. As an aside, I had three aerial photographic books of Ireland published and have been pleased to donate them to the Worth School library.

When we retired, Fiona and I bought a cottage near the fishing village of Ballycotton on the east coast of County Cork. We are fortunate to have six grandchildren in our lives.

The trumpet that I played at Worth in 1960 is alive and well, I play regularly with the Cork Light Orchestra and also jazz with a group of friends.

Michael Agius, Kevin & Peter Pavry back at Worth where they first met in 1953

Kevin Dwyer WPS 1953-58

Kevin playing his trumpet with his jazz group