01/09/2025
This week... please welcome Peter Bilish with Six of his Best!
Peter sure does have an knack at recalling many moments from his holy cross school days and again doesn't fail to deliver!
Name: Peter Bilish
Attended HCC: Year 5 to Year 10
Resides in: Fleet, Hampshire, U.K
Relationship: Married
Children: 1
Hello guys, its Peter Bilish here. The area that I live in is called Fleet, Hampshire which is a semi urban, affluent area of the U.K, South West of London.
Q1. Give us a brief history on life after HCC (studies, travel, career, and family).
My working career, after I left school was helped when I enrolled in a drafting course back in 1985 at Sydney TAFE which I did for a year. I landed my first job as an Apprentice Draftsman in April 1986.
Remember the CES near Top Ryde. I looked at the partition boards where they had all the jobs advertised on those cards as it was back then, I applied for the job I liked and got it. I have been a draftsman ever since I left school because I enjoyed Tech Drawing and like working in an office.
I started my own Drafting Company back in 2009 and that went well. I worked on some big projects like The Gurkin in London and Wimbledon Tennis Centre. I then went freelance drafting in 2017.
But when Covid hit us in March 2020, there was lockdown for about a year. Wages were poor due to less hours and work eventually became scarce. Claire’s health then deteriorated and considering my situation I decided to retire from drafting in my early 50’s. I’m her full time carer now and find it satisfying with less pressure and stress from work.
I have been here since 2000 after living in North Ryde with my parents, brothers and sister, just a stone throw away from Mark Daniel who lived in Kent road. We used to walk to school together and catch the 506 every morning.
I met my wife Claire, who is English on a Contiki tour to Ayers Rock back in 1996 whilst she was travelling on a working holiday visa. We got very fond of each other and when I went to the UK to see her in 1999 we decided to take the next step and get married. We have just celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary too, as shown by my holiday snaps. We have a son named Harry (17) and enjoy the slower pace of life a lot. Sydney felt too busy for me so I’ve been here ever since. I also enjoy visiting castles and love the
English country side and history.
Now that I’ve retired, I keep myself active by doing lots of walking around Fleet pond which is a nature reserve, enjoy having a coffee with my wife or afternoon teas, country drives to visit an English pub, enjoy doing DIY around the house and being a house husband.
As for travel I’ve done most of the U.K, Ireland, Europe and Canada, been to Singapore, San Fran, LA, Australia, Japan, NZ and FIJI just recently.
Q2. Fondest/Funniest memory at Holy Cross.
Generally the poking fun at teacher’s names and mannerisms was a common trait back then and hilarious. Sure it was rude and risky but we didn’t care. We had a field day at times especially when the
teachers were about to arrive or leave the classroom. 2 that I recall very well from Mr Tansey was “All Are Sure & Going Ashore” when we had to change classes and if you mucked up in class he would also say “Go Get Me The Cain”.
Brother Malachy had one too. By saying “Fellas I’ll tell Ya I’m Gonna Have To Belt Ya” when we wouldn’t shut up.
Mr. Thiele had a tendency to name students “Monkey” if you played up or didn’t pay attention. We would play on that as well.
How can we not forget Steve McCapian. The guy responsible for handing out the text books for the year ahead. The poor bloke had a speech impediment and used to get a saliva build up on the edges of his mouth each time he spoke. He had learning difficulties but we would almost every time take the mickey out of him.
Also fooling the teachers that we had someone locked in the storage cupboards to act as a kidnapping who were trying to get out by rattling the cupboard itself whilst holding the doors shut. Miss Hirschfield and Miss Brown fell for it once as we all had a crack at them later. Great times. Mark Daniel, Anthony Crawley,
Daniel Arnaldi, myself and James and Angelo Iacano were the chief instigators in that one.
The farting noises and generally making a nuisance of ourselves was part of school life. When days become boring we would do stuff to make a laugh to brighten up a dull moment like Chris Hunt bringing in a FART spray can just for kicks.
Q3. Favourite (or worst) teacher and why....
My favourite teachers were Mr Skeed, Mr Fuda and Mr McMasters. They were great teachers and if you did your work and respect them they liked you too. Greg Skeed who I had in 1983 organised the first school camp to Stanwell Tops which was a great 3 days away. He also was a great maths teacher. John Fuda was my geography teacher and had learnt a lot from him too. Lee McMasters had a unique interest in me because I wanted to swap woodwork over Tech Drawing as an elective but he encouraged me to stick with Tech Drawing. Reason being I had him for Graphical Communications in 1981 and got to enjoy it and he knew I had the talent for drawing. I followed his advice back in 1983 and 1984 and hence became a draftsman so I had a lot to thank him for. I managed to contact him when I was compiling phone
numbers for the 30 year reunion back in 2016 and he was so delighted for me. A great personal achievement.
My worst teacher was Mr Bevan (maybe a few others felt the same) only because he had such an aggressive nature and a bad temper. He became a bully towards James in just about every history lesson
in 1981 and it pi**ed me off. James dreaded going to history because of being picked on. So I stepped up and got my dad involved and asked him to speak to Mr Colliemore in person to get him to lay off James and Beaven got the message, loud and clear. In that same class he would call out Anthony Crawley and
Brian Mossman each time to the front because he knew they didn’t do their homework. He would then pinch the nerve near your collarbone The Prachial Plexus as punishment.
He also got very angry if you didn’t bring your P.E gear. Sometimes he would slam a sandshoe on the dwarf wall where we sat on and say “Bring your gear next time” and it got freighting. He completely lost it.
Didn’t like him at all!
Q4. What's the most trouble you got into whilst at HCC?
I didn’t get into too much trouble really but one time in 1983 my friends which included Mark Daniel, Daniel Arnaldi, Angelo Iacano, Martin Lowe and myself saw a few empty desks around after a Sausage Sizzle and turned a wooden desk upside down and started using it as a sledge on the wooden floors in the pavilion. This was a fun thing to do. We would sit inside the 4 legs and be slid around by 2 others.
Well, after a while the frame came of the base and Brother Augustine notice this and were told to pay $50 each for a replacement. It was only minor damage and with my DIY skills I would have screwed it back to the frame. We didn’t pay in the end as it was just a warning and a lesson in respecting the schools
property. Lesson learnt.
The general uniform was mandatory too. If you were not wearing a tie, that Centenary badge which had to be worn on the collar and not having your shoes polished, it would land you in trouble with Mr Young and put on Chain Gang duties each lunch time. I had my time their too.
Q5. What's something that HCC/teachers did back in the day that would not be allowed today?
A leaf out of Chris’s comments, the manhandling of students, the severity of punishment and the general bulliness that was completely uncalled for and not warranted. All that combined will lead to skipping school and anxiety issues. Mental health is a big talking point now days.
Q6. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
If I applied myself better and did more study I would have had better report cards.
Don’t leave homework to the last minute. I sometimes chucked a “sickie” to do my homework so I wouldn’t be told it won’t be accepted due to being late. Teachers were strict on late homework or assignments.
To finish off, if you have a bucket list by all means go for it. Time goes too fast and enjoy it before we get too old.
Finally, if you have any bonus stories/memories/comments you wish to share....
Well the general pranks and misdemeanours come to mind. Like guys getting their eyebrows shaved off at the school camps. The tuck shop being broken into. Leaving the Bunsen Burners on to let out the gas in science. Slamming our desk lids to make a noise. Lighting Penny Bungers in rubbish bins. The Graffiti.
Overall a whole lot of stories that can be said at our next meet.
