Page 49 - KBHA BULLETIN 2

46

Within a year the class of 1909 had increase to 21, with a further 7 girls and 4 boys giving a

school roll of 15 girls and 6 boys. The staff was increased to 3 nuns and a few secular teachers,
with additional art, drawing and elocution classes.

Meanwhile Sisters Felix and Alphonsus (principal) were appointed by Springfield to the well

established Mission School where some 80 pupils attended. They took over the running of this
school in 1908 with Frances Hilario as pupil monitor, and it is assumed that Father Duignam’s

name was finally removed from the Cape Government School Teachers Roll. It had appeared on

and off the roll for a number of years.

Father Duignam’s responsibility as the Catholic priest to the Simon’s Town - Diep River
community, and now the increased local community from Kalk Bay to Muizenberg, placed a

much greater workload on him than in earlier years. His impact as a school teacher, however, did
th
perpetuate with the celebration each year of St. Patrick’s Day. March 17 was a Holy Day for the
Convent and had long been one for the Mission School.

The good father had told the Cape Government School Board many years previously, while in

charge of the Mission School, that he did not teach on this holy day. They had agreed to this and
for many years the Mission School was closed on that day. Later the boarders at the Convent

were treated to a day at the ‘Boulders’ Simon’s Town, where annually long horse-drawn carts

took them on a day’s outing. Father Duignam inevitably accompanied them in his trap drawn by
his favourite horse Larry, who was kept in a stable behind the Convent. This outing continued

well into the 1920s, after which increased numbers made it too unwieldy.

In 1910 Monica Dolphin, the first girl boarder was admitted to the Convent with another four

boarders following later in the year. In 1911 Jack (surname unknown) became the first day
boarder. The “sluice-gates” were now open and after 1912 the entire concept of the convent

changed - it was no longer a rest house for sick sisters, but a feeder school for Springfield.

46