It seems the right time of year to post this classic photograph from late December 1948 which shows a party of St Mary’s boys about to embark on a week long feast of winter sports.

Twenty-six lads went on the trip to Villard-de-Lans in the French Alps for a week-long trip which the Kentish Times newpaper said had a ‘gladness and triumph about it which would never be forgotten,’ before adding: “The ardour and gay comradeship of the St Mary’s boys, their progress in ski-ing, their community singing endeared them to the local population and noised their name abroad.”

One of the boys on the trip was Mike Crotty and , despite the passage of time, retains clear recollections of this most memorable of excursions, which he mainly spent with his classmate Gwyn Power.

The party first travelled to Paris where they visited the Palace of Versailles followed by Cirque Medrano on Boulevard de Rochechouart before attending a ‘Welcome to 1949’ party at their hotel: “The older lads were able to see in the New Year,” says Michael, “but we younger ones had to go to bed.”

New Year’s Day saw visits to The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Champs-Elysees, where the boys laid a wreath at the Arc de Triomphe. The next day the party travelled to Grenoble by train and found their hotel at nearby Villard-de-Lans:

“Then began a dream eight days of ski practice on the beginners’ slopes and exploring the village for presents to take home,” says Michael. Though the hotel was welcoming, Michael recalls and he and many boys were less than enamoured with the breakfasts: “We came down and were confronted by coffee, crusty bread and what looked like ice cream in a bowl,” he remembers. “It was not ice-cream though, it was traditional French country yoghurt, unsweetened and tasting like month-old rancid milk, with the consistency to match. To this day I have not been able to face yoghurt.”

Luckily, this is the only negative Michael remembers of a joyous, horizon-expanding trip, with laughs galore on and off the slopes.

But it was a St Mary’s lad called Paul, whose surname has been forgotten, who provided some of the best memories.

On the first night in the hotel, the St Mary’s boys found themselves in the middle of a sing song. From nowhere Paul produced a guitar, started singing and then, to the delight of locals, started to properly yodel: “I know this area of the Alps is famous for yodelling but very few people from the area, can actually do it,” said Michael, “at least not properly. Paul very quickly became number one and took over most of each evening’s entertainment.”

The party of boys from Sidcup proved such a hit they had to repeat their performance every night from then on, as the numbers watching increased, to the point where a local radio station broadcast their performance.