Steve Brady Letter

From: Steve Brady
To: COBA
Sent: January 2023
Subject: Article from the Caribbean from a Scouser on the loose!

It’s All Greek To Me

How good to have seen the article in the recent edition of The Collegiate Times from my close friend of – gulp!  - some sixty years, George Bell, for whom I was “Best Man” at his wedding over fifty years ago.

Like him, I had honest, working-class parents, my Dad being a “Corpy” bus driver for nearly forty years, usually on the ‘27’ Sheil Road Circular (and I think there were times when he and my Mum drove each other round in circles too!). When I hit 12, a big decision arrived – Greek or German to add to the Latin and French all third formers endured? Simple choice – German! My Dad, you see, had enjoyed ‘’complimentary German lessons in a German holiday camp”, as he described it, called Stalag VIIIβ, having been wounded at Dunkirk and imprisoned for the rest of the War. Now the old class structure kicked in: “Don’t tell those ‘toffs’ at that school that I know German – I don’t want any extra pressure put on you!” So, the inevitable happened! Greek it was to be for Brady. But I had a way out to miss the draft. I suggested to George that we did a swop. Well, after he had given me directions to the Pier Head with instructions to jump into the Mersey….

Well, to cut a long story very short, both George and I came to personal Christian faith whilst at the Collegiate. And we both left our school the same day, my having had enough of 6β Classics, and headed off to work for the “Corpy”. Of course, I therefore did not complete my ‘A’ Levels in Classics. However, when a became a theological student a few years later, and in the days when ‘A’ Levels were mandatory to matriculate onto a degree course, that GCE ‘O’ Level Greek served two purposes: one, it helped get me onto a degree course; two, it saved me from those worried, furrowed brows of some my fellow students who didn’t know the difference between a noun and a verb, and most of whom struggled initially to learn just the Greek alphabet for starters! I hope by the end of their studies, at least they knew enough Greek, the language of the New Testament, to appreciate the old Classics’ joke about the boy who, when asked to “conjugate” regularly “declined” instead!

I owe a great deal to the Collegiate. Like many others, alas, I did not appreciate at the time how much! I am so grateful for those teachers of Classics – Ken Crofts, the Headmaster, ‘Nippy Jim’ Gain, Johnny Gawler, Mr Herrick (aka ‘Herring’ and then ‘Kipper’ – ah that irrepressible Scouse humour!), and Dave Whitehead. George mentioned what an intimidating character he found the latter to be; for me it was the polar opposite, an encouraging and inspiring Latin teacher!

These days, a widower, a Dad, and Granddad, I’m still a Baptist Minister but pastoring in the Cayman Isles – yes, I know, but someone has to do it!😎 However, last October, on a home visit, home being Bournemouth these, I dutifully set off in good time for COBA’s Annual Dinner. Alas, a temporary mechanical breakdown, then horrendous traffic not only on the car park formerly known as the ‘M6’ brought me to Liverpool after a mere eight hours, so missing the eagerly anticipated Dinner. So, this year, I hope to be in the UK and set off at least three days early to be in good time for the Annual Dinner. And to show all those years of Greek were not in vain, I hope I’ll have a good number of “Eureka” moments discovering old pals and classmates from those far off but good old days! Best wishes!

Steve Brady (1962-67)

January 2023

First Baptist Church

Grand Cayman

West Indies