31 Oct 2021
Written By Matthew Eastley
‘F’ is for Finnissy, Forsyth, Futter etc
I was recently contacted by Terry Finnissy, one of the cohort of St Mary’s lads who joined the school in 1972, so it seems like an opportune moment to update the A to Z directory with the letter F.
The cracking picture above shows Terry in his back garden dressed as a Roman Centurion for a first form production of Julius Caesar, which was probably part of the Integrated Studies programme.
Terry came up to St Mary’s from St Vincent’s in Mottingham, along with John D’Silva and Nick Pannizi. In that first year, Rod Turner was their form master and Steve King their prefect. (King was a great bloke apparently. Steve Willis, another ‘72 joiner, recalls Rod – with typical humour – introducing him to the new arrivals with the words: ‘This is your new prefect King and he is a cruel and barbarous man!).
Terry says rugby played a huge part of his school life. Like me, Terry played fly-half for his year and here is a photo which looks like the U15 XV taken around 1975/76.
Back row left right: Greg McGarvey, Gerard O’Malley, Tony Lewis, Paul Munday, John Battison, Steve Willis, Ralph Clayton, Tom Brady, Chris Miller, Gary Coscoran
Front row: Paul Dyson, Dave Guilfoyle, Shaun Holley, Gerard Whelan, Mark Primarolo(c),Terry Finnissy, Naoise Moran, Kevin Moynihan, John D’Silva.
Terry has another memory of Rod too: “Rod had organised line-out practice one lunchtime.This required the services of John D’Silva (scrum half) and me (fly half). Unfortunately, we were attending extra French lessons with Sue Worthington. We had just settled when the classroom door was taken off its hinges and there stood Rod.Three words were uttered:
“Finnissy, D’Silva out”
“Second school motto. Never allow academic work to interfere with rugby!”
Terry continues: “Rugby still plays a huge part in my life today. I met my wife through rugby friends. Dick D’Silva (St Mary’s 1969) was my best man, and we are godparents to his son.We are season ticket holders at Saracens and have been lucky enough to follow them all over Europe and watch their European Cup triumphs.
”As I drive past the old school today, I feel it looks a bit sad. No playground to play tennis ball football in. If the ball went on ‘Boss’s’ roof some light-footed lad would be dispatched to retrieve it. If he was caught, he was threatened with” I’ll send you home with a letter to your parents.”
It’s been great to hear from Terry and you’ll find him in the list of Fs, along with a number of other gentlemen it has been my pleasure to meet through this project including Terry Futter (1955), Oswald Folkes (1962), Kenneth Foote (1962) Stephen Farrington (1963), Damian Farrow (1965), Peter Foulds (1973) and Tim Forsyth (1976).
I’ve also met or communicated with a number of the gentlemen in the rugby photograph including Tony Lewis, John Battison, Steve Willis, Ralph CIayton, Mark Primarolo and Kevin Moynihan. And what great blokes they are too!
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