At 2pm on Thursday 7th July there was a Mass of Thanksgiving to mark the closure of Salesian College Battersea. The new Saint John Bosco College will open in September 2011.

Badges of Salesian College Battersea and Saint John Bosco College

The principal concelebrant at the Mass in the Church of the Sacred Heart was the Most Reverend Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark. The remaining pupils of the school, boys from 12 to 15 years old, were present with their teachers and ancillary staff.

They provided the altar servers, led the singing and bidding prayers and brought forward the offertory procession, including a large portrait of St John Bosco which was passed on to representatives of the new school. Behind the altar there was a poster with the school badge and photographs of all the pupils and staff.

Also present were Fr Martin Coyle, the GBR Provincial, Salesians from the Battersea community and other houses in the province, local diocesan clergy, and past pupils and teachers of the College.

In his homily, based on the gospel 'Put out into deep water' (Luke 5), the Archbishop asked the pupils and staff to pray for the success of the new Saint John Bosco College.

A papal blessing was presented by the Archbishop to Mr Edward Hrabi, retiring after more than 40 years as a teacher and deputy head of the school. Fr Martin Coyle presented a medal of Don Bosco and a letter from the Rector Major to Mr Stephen McCann, headteacher for the final 16 years of the College.

The boys present at the Mass, together with pupils of Saint John Paul II School and the new intake of 11 year olds, will pioneer the new Saint John Bosco College on the JPII site near Wimbledon Common. The buildings there are being given a major refurbishment, but the long term plan is for the school to return to the Battersea site with new buildings when sufficient money is available.

Thanks to the Archdiocese of Southwark for kind permission to use the photographs on this page

Thanks to Fr Bernard Grogan for drawing our attention to the following historical background:

Salesian College Battersea began in 1895 with the purchase of Surrey Lodge for 4700 with the aid of a loan procured by Don (Blessed Michael) Rua. Fr John Dickson (Dynamics of Growth p116f) describes how

Surrey Lodge was adapted as the Community House and centre for the boarding secondary school or College which was gradually taking shape... two wings were added to Surrey House itself, on the site of a conservatory on one side , and towards the stables, on the other. These provided classrooms and dormitory space for the community and for the 110 boarders.

The Salesian Bulletin of September 1895 contains an advertisement including a 'mission statement'

The aim of the Salesians, whilst preparing these boys for the Priesthood, whether secular or regular, is to follow a syllabus which will enable those who do not feel called to the ecclesiastical state to enter upon any career they may choose.

(The school developed as a boys' grammar school, rather than a junior seminary, and ended as a comprehensive school for boys aged 11 to 16.)

The headteachers were

• 1895-1902: Fr Juvenal Bonavia
• 1902-1919: Fr John McCourt
• 1919-1921: Fr John Noonan
• 1921-1922: Fr John Hickey
• 1922-1929: Fr William Smith
• 1929-1940: Fr John Hickey *
• 1940-1965: Fr William Chadwick *
• 1965-1975: Fr James Foley
• 1975-1985: Fr Hugh Douglas
• 1985-1994/5: Fr Michael Blackburn
• 1995-2011: Mr Stephen McCann

* From 1939 to 1945 the College was evacuated to Cowley.