FMacLeod

Published at 01:00, Friday, 15 July 2005

FATHER Rolles knows Carlisle’s Austin Friars private school better than most people.

As plain Bernard Rolles aged 11 he came as a pupil 50 years ago and as an adult returned as both a friar and a teacher.

Today, walking along empty corridors, silent as students enjoy their summer break, he is saying goodbye to the school that been part of his life for five decades.

Since the death in March of former headteacher Father Tom Lyons from a heart attack aged 67, Father Rolles has been the only monk at the school.

He is the last of the Austin Friars order in Carlisle which created the school in 1951.

The geography teacher said: “I’m sad to be leaving but I realise the reality of the situation. I cannot stay as the solitary priest.

“Five or seven years ago there were eight of us but they were needed elsewhere.

“I came here as a schoolboy in 1955 and at that time you had a community of about 17 friars.”

Three years ago with just two remaining priests, the order handed control of the school to the board of governors.

Father Rolles’s departure marks the final severing of the link between the friars and teaching at the school, although he will sit on the board of governors.

He said: “I will be on the board of governors so the order will be maintaining its links with the school.”

Father Rolles’s next job will be to head a priory in the village of Clare in Suffolk where he spent time as a young priest before being assigned to Carlisle.

Austin Friars was created in 1951 when the then Bishop of Lancaster wanted to set up a Catholic grammar school and brought the Augustinians to Carlisle for the job.

It was a boys boarding school – girls were only admitted from 1986 and boarding finished a decade later.

Originally boys who passed their 11-plus would have their fees paid by the state but today the school is a private, fee-paying school.

The Augustinian order dates back to 1256 and is known as an educational route within the priesthood as many are teachers.

Today there are only 35 Augustinians left in Britain and around 3,000 worldwide compared to an international order of 30,000 Jesuits.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk