It was the beginning of the school year in 1943 that I first entered the hallowed walls of St Bede’s College. Having been born and raised in the small and isolated village of Kaikoura, 100 or so miles north of Christchurch, it was a shock to this 14 year old as I entered through the front door of the original three story building, draped in ivy. Fr John Dowling greeted us and I was promptly dumped in the hall way, while my father departed in a waiting taxi. Fr John Dowling was also new having just taken over the roll of rector from his brother F Morrie (Sniff) Dowling.

After some time standing in the hall I was taken and shown my bed and clothes locker. The dormitory had 60 beds in it. Three rows of 20 beds, I was allocated the middle bed in the middle row. I was in the junior dormitory on the top floor. The senior dormitory was one floor below, and the study was on the ground floor. The whole section was known as the new wing. I finally located a cousin, also from Kaikoura, who was in the 4th form. He introduced me to some of his mates in the Ath and 5th forms, telling them I was Brian Lovett’s brother. They all took a second look at me and laughed. Apparently my brother had caused a few disturbances in his day at St Bede's.

The next day all the new students gathered in the study and were addressed by Father Hoben. We were to sit an exam to determine whether we were to go into 3A or 3B.

Fr Hoben’s overpowering personality had us all scared witless. Then he proceeded to tell us how important this exam was. If we got into 3A we could get our University Entrance in 3 years. If we finished up in 3B it would take 4 years. The long and the short of it, I finished up in 3B.

Fr Fisher addressed the 3B class and gave us a general run down of what was expected of us. I was fascinated by some of the student's names. Names I had never heard before. There was Strassmyer, Drosdofski, Shamanski and Grofski, to mention just a few.

The boy I sat next to in the back row of the class broke down in tears when Fr Fisher asked us to write down the names and addresses of our parents. Both his parents had died within three months of one another the previous year. We became firm friends throughout our school years and on to this present day. Last year 2008, I spent a few days with Brian Fahy in Christchurch.

The senior students were offered the opportunity to attend a ballroom dancing class. A pinster lady whose name I can’t recall came out to the school one evening a month. The new dance of the day was the modern waltz. I enjoyed dancing and in the late 1950s I asked a beautiful young lady to accompany me to a dance at which the Glen Millar Orchestra was playing. She was a magnificent dancer and we danced regularly for the next 5O years.

On Saturday mornings Fr Gill conducted a voluntary discussion class. We could discuss any subject we wished, having a different subject each week, sex, politics or religion, although there wasn’t much sex discussion in those days.

I handled the school work in 3B and managed to get Ist in class at the end of the year. I still have the book I was given on my bookshelf. I also managed to get in the Bantam A football team.

In 1944, I went into 4A and the Lightweight A’s. On the 6th June word came through that the invasion of Europe had commenced. Like all 4th formers, I was no longer a new chum, and I knew the ropes. Like all 4th formers we threw our weight about, but it doesn’t take long to be brought back down to earth.

We had two religions in those days, Catholicism and football, and I am not sure which was the most important. The big event of the year in the football calendar was the Boys’ High game, but Christ’s College was never a pushover. In one game at Christ's College, College was leading right up to the last minute. Then St Bede’s scored a try making the score even. The whole school went wild. The kick to convert was out near the sideline. In those days the moment the ball touched the ground the opposing team could charge. The ball was placed in an upright position and as Kevin Stewart started his approach the ball started to fall forward. His boot connected while it was in the torpedo position to sail neatly between the posts and over the cross bar. The school went doubly wild.

The whole education system was changing and school certificate exam replaced matriculation exam. Matriculation or University Entrance was granted after a further satisfactory year with no exam.

At the beginning of the school year everyone had to compete in the 100 yard dash to determine their athletic ability. My athletic ability was painfully obvious although I did go on to win the senior cross country handicap. (Handicap was the key word).

In 1944 everyone was watching R.F. (Reg) Warren who went on to break all but one of T.H. Lee’s sprint records which had stood for 20 years. He actually matched his 10 seconds for the hundred yards, but the record was not allowed because of a supporting wind.

The influence of the Marist Fathers had a big effect on my life, and for the following five years while I was a pharmacist I wondered if I had a vocation to a religious life. I decided I couldn’t make up my mind in the world so I gave myself two years to find out in the seminary. After the mid year break in my second year I knew I had to make a decision before the end of the year. After much prayer and consideration I decided I didn’t have a vocation to the priesthood so came out of the seminary. It was time well spent as it gave me a chance to assess my life.

I was still restless and unsure of the direction my life should take. I finally found my vocation in Chiropractic. In those days there was no place in the world to study but North America, so in 1956 I left New Zealand to study at the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, lowa. The first person to explain the principles of chiropractic was my good friend and fellow seminarian who went on to become Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal Tom Williams of Oceania.

The Thomistic Philosophy of St Bede's and Holy Cross College enabled me to instantly grasp and appreciate the philosophy of the profession that has been my life for the past 54 years.

I left the USA in January 1960 with a doctorate, a wife and daughter to take up a position in Wangaratta, Victoria. In 1964 I opened my own practice in Bendigo. Another daughter was born in Wangaratta and a son in Bendigo.

In 1989 I retired to build a motor home which I did over the next four years. One year of that time was occupied doing locum work. I finally finished my motor home and my American daughter, who had returned to Davenport lowa and obtained a doctorate in chiropractic herself, talked me out of retirement, she had opened a practice in Melbourne and was so busy she needed help. I said I would give her two years and stayed five.

When I turned 70 my wife (Janet) and I took off in our motor home and wandered around Australia for three years. In the meantime my daughter (Lisa) had sold her Melbourne practice and moved to Bribie Island in Queensland. At the end of three years we finished up at Bribie Island to do a locum for Lisa. For the second time she talked me out of retirement and I have now been back at work for seven years.

My son Marcus lives on the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbourne. He is now producing his own TV show called (of course) “The Snow Show”.

[Abridged]