I’m the banner bearer as I was school captain at Our Lady of Mercy School, Campbell’s Hill. It was an intermediate school with a primary school attached at Monte Pio.
Our family has a St Patrick’s Day story, as many families do. I believe it occurred in 1952 as Mum was expecting a baby in April. Our father, who was a dairy farmer, had to take us to the march along with a maiden aunt. The display involved dancing at the showground. The girls from Morpeth Catholic School were dressed in long white frocks with large shamrocks made of green crepe paper stitched around the hem. All was going well – until rain began to fall and the green crepe shamrocks ‘ran’ all over the beautiful white dresses. Our mother loved telling the story of how we looked when we finally arrived home, wet and bedraggled! Our father was more than distracted.