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Next Sunday will make it two months (Sept 20th) since I arrived back at my community at West Beach, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It has been great to be back, but I am missing Chavagnes.

Mr Ferdi McDermott has invited me on a couple of occasions to share by email some of my reflections about Chavagnes International College when I have had time to do so when holidaying at Twickenham. I have done this from time to time, but was always more pushed for time than I am now.

Mr Hester, probably England's most well-known commentator on Catholic education, a man whose articles and letters have appeared often in The Times, The Catholic Herald and other papers of value, and whose views on Catholic Education and Catholic schools are sought by media outlets on special occasions, has also encouraged me often to share my experience with the administation and staff at the college.

Mr Hester has been at the college on three occasions and has been very positive about the school and helpful to it..

Mr Hester has had nearly 30 years experience of leading Catholic schools in England, and at least at the time of his retirement a few years ago, was the longest serving Lay Principal of any Catholic school in England. He now inspects and reports on leading Public Schools (Independent Schools) in England.

So, now while still not free from distractions, this time mainly associated with settling in back in Australia, before writing about Chavagnes to Australian Catholic parents and educators, I believe it is of value and right to share my reflections about Chavagnes with Mr. McDermott, the school's Founder and other long-serving administration there.

Needless to say, I am in love with Chavagnes International College, and most grateful that I have had the opportunity to serve there. Needless, to say my conclusions are overwhelmingly positive. I believe that any boy who has been there has had a happy, safe experience of a a first-rate immersion into Catholic culture, which has overflowed with excellent results into all aspects of school life, academic, cultural and sporting.

This written analysis of a Christian Brother with 69 years of experience of Catholic education as either a student and teacher at all levels, primary, secondary and tertiary, decades in boarding schools, coaching numerous teams, experiences before, during and after Vatican II, experiencing and seeing the results of all kinds of changes, should have some observations which will prove helpful. My experiences are supported by a Masters degree from the GraduateSchool of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University and another Masters degree from the Australian Catholic University and more.

So it is likely that some of the observations I offered would be worth considering. Mr McDermott is a very gifted man of great energy, who has, like all Headmasters, whether he finds them helpful or not, has many opinions thrust upon him and must be sick and tired of this at times. At other times, he would be pleased to gain something very helpful.

My long eamil took considerable time.

What else have I been doing? I have enjoyed the beautiful winter weather. One Englishman said to me that winter in Adelaide is like summer in England. Well, I have always had to wear a pullover in the winter I have just experienced, and I certinly did not have to for much of the English summer. In the winter which finished on August 31 there were many beautiful sunny days with clear blue skies. The winter has been far from bleak, and, while there has been plenty of rain for our needs, there has been far far from a surfeit of them.

The beautiful white sands of the miles of Adelaide shore, and the beautiful clear waters stretching for miles of other side of West Beach and reaching out beyond the horizon have made walking along the beach a vey enjoyable experience.

I have enjoyed reading books from the Adelaide Catholic Library, one being a most interesting biography of Archbishop Beovich, the Archbishop of Adelaide from 1940 to 1971, and another being Cardinal Cassidy's, "My Years in the Vatican'. My journey from London to Perth went very quickly as I bought Wayne Rooney's autobiography, enjoyed it thoroughly, completed on the trip, and gave it to my brother. Coming from Perth to Adelaide I bought another very easy read, "Seeing the Sunrise" by a Christian Brother's old boy, Justin Langer, I would say a great opening batsman for Australia.

I travel by by public transport when I can and find it very relaxing reading on the bus and some other times. Virtually every day I read the readings of the Mass for the day in my French missal, and the commentary on them. I also use my computer to read "Le Monde" and "La Croix" fairly often, and watch and to listen to the French news on www.France.24.com , and the French Channel 2 evening news which comes on a multi cultural Channel here evry morning at 9.20 am.

My health is good, and I have much to thank God for.