Review – Grace and Flavour at Croft Castle

By Richard Harper

Published by Wilton65, £12.

Richard Harper turned 90 in June, but he had not long turned just three years old when his parents packed him off to boarding school.

These are his memoirs of his time at St Elizabeth's School, run by Catholic nuns, and particularly for the war years when the school took up residence in Croft Castle, south west of Ludlow.

Considering modern sensibilities about the welfare of children, his school experiences were remarkable. No support, no sympathy, and no love. The youngsters didn't complain, and just got on with things, because that was the expectation of those times.

To use the old cliche, it doesn't seem to have done Richard any harm, although it had an enormous effect, one of which was to give him an aversion to any religious instruction.

But if it happened today they wouldn't call it education, they'd probably call it child abuse.

Review by David Banner