To wonder which school a Catholic 'English' girl would have gone to school in Northern Ireland in the 1990 s !

[mountford100]

I was watching Derry girls last night and what struck me was the boy cousin of one of the characters was unable to attend the boys school.
This was because he was English and would have faced problems regarding bullying and his nationality, despite being a Catholic himself.

This is of interest to me because i am a Catholic English girl, whose mother emigrated to England from Donegal when she was 8 .

I have only ever lived in England . However, the fact the cousin on Derry Girls had to attend a girls school, has made me curious as to which school i would have attended .

This being if my mother had decided to go to Northern Ireland in the 1990s , where most of her cousins live.

I know this is not applicable any more because two of my cousins DDs attend a non Catholic girls grammar in Belfast.

Am reading this thread with interest, but am surprised at the defensiveness of some. NI, other than the obvious divide is an extremely mono-ethnic place, and so it should be no surprise that outsiders might get a hard time in schools as that's what tends to happen in such places (and I'll add that just about every person from NI I've met I've liked).

Thank Gid someone actually pointed out that the OPs mother was from the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland. Does the OP realise that???

Lol.

His country off birth is better off without him then, @Eltonjohnssyrup

As a Derry girl, I'm sorry that some of you met with bullying behaviour while you were in Derry. However may I please point out that many Catholic teenagers in the 1990's would only have spoken to one group of people with a English accents... British squaddies. Who would have said charming things to them, at the border when they were trying to visit their aunties in Donegal, like "Let me see some ID - you smell like a Taig", while groping their breasts. Like I experienced. Or, my young cousin's trauma, when her puppy ran towards a soldier in a park: he put his gun in her mouth and threatened her. That doesn't make it right for those same teenagers to then bully another child with an English accent, if they did so. But it needs to be understood within the wider cultural issues of forced partition, internment, gerrymandering, civil war, etc...

Whereas the Bright Young Things (and some lecturers) at the English university I attended ripped into me for my Derry accent purely for shits and giggles, as far as I could tell. I had to learn an English accent bloody quickly to stand any chance of the bullying ending.

Sorry you suffered that @howdoyoudecide

Thank Gid someone actually pointed out that the OPs mother was from the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland. Does the OP realise that???

Lol.

Yes i know that. However, the rest of her family relocated to either Belfast or Newry when my mother emigrated to England.

So if my mother had decided to go back it would have been to either Newry or Belfast.

Up thread i also say i believe schools are more intergrated. I quote that two of my cousins DDs attend a non Catholic girls grammar in Belfast. The other cousins live in Newry .

In response to bullying for being different. This is from an a different post from me.

My Mum came to England from Ireland at age 8 and went to her local Primary school where she passed the 11+ .
She went to a grammar school, where she bullied for having a strong Irish Accent .

Mum learnt to lose her accent to fit in with the traditionally middle class other girls.

Mum did exceptionally well due to the excellent education provided by the school passing 6 O Levels consequently was one of only a few that girls that stayed on to do A levels .

There are absolutely tons of English people where I live in NI and it’s a mixed catholic and Protestant town with very mixed primaries a reasonably mixed grammar (though we have an unbelievably amazing but very catholic grammar within hitting distance so that distorts the mixing slightly as many catholics i assume hi there for secondary). My DH not from here and never had a problem.

British squaddies. Who would have said charming things to them, at the border when they were trying to visit their aunties in Donegal, like "Let me see some ID - you smell like a Taig", while groping their breasts. Like I experienced.

What all of them? All of them would have said that would they?

Sorry you experienced that I really am but that's as bad a generalisation and sweeping statement as anything else in this thread.

Yes. Yes I wrote that a Catholic teenager in Derry in the 90's would have spoken to every single squaddie and been abused by all of them.

Most of those soldiers were very young and didn't have a clue what they were getting into. I realise now that they must have been shit scared. And the fact that the culture at that time of discrimination and prejudice towards us Catholics was not their fault, on an individual level. Neither was the fact that people from my community had no recourse when we were sexually or physically assaulted by what might have been a small minority of soldiers... the stats are still unclear as so much was covered up.

My point stands: some teenagers in Catholic schools in Derry wouldn't have spoken to English people aside from soldiers... and those soldiers were not there for our protection. Quite the opposite. And many of us had been verbally (and physically/sexually) abused by some of them.

Well, whatever about the pretty troubled past in NI and pockets of depravation and bigotry that remain, I have to say NI is a fantastic place to live.

Excellent and completely free education, amazing house prices, very family friends communities, free everything on the NHS including prescriptions. Most people have no idea how good life actually is here for the average family. Best kept secret.

You did say that actually. You said they would have said those things. Not could, would.

Anyway you've clarified it now. I am the daughter of a soldier and was one myself. I knew a lot of soldiers then and now. Many of the soldiers I knew, who baby sat us and came for tea, were young lads who were shit scared and thought everyone was out to shoot them or blow them up, that's the training they got and what comes with sending 18 year olds with limited life experience into that conflict. I don't for one second think they they were all wide eyed scared innocents though, I'm sure there were some proper arseholes among them.

My Dad is actually a catholic from NI who left to love to England as baby and joined the British army. He would often see his extended family in the area he was posted in. He couldn't acknowledge them though as he wouldn't have been allowed to go there if they knew he was local, so would stop and search them so they could exchange family news. I always like hearing about that

MsGameandwatching I am sure there were some good ones but they did do those things and worse.

Catholic children shot in back coming from church, SN people shot in the back for running away from them etc, etc

It was a very dark time, with very rotten eggs on all sides.

Most (I won't speak for everyone, but all my cousins, all my friends, me many times) young Catholic teens in Derry in the early 90's - would have had a discriminatory encounter with a soldier at some point, yes. That doesn't mean the same thing as being abused by every soldier they met.

My cousin who had a soldier put his gun in her mouth didn't speak to me when I went to University in England. I can see now that she had PTSD, and I can imagine that she might have picked on a classsmate who turned up with an English accent. But now she's purposefully sent her kids to a mixed school - things have moved on and most members of both communities are thankfully wanting peace and reconciliation as I'm sure you know.

Oh and I too had a relative whose parent had immigrated to England, and was a Catholic in the army in he 90's. His experience of that is sadly much less positive than that of your father - he was castigated by both sides, despite not even being posted to NI as it would have been too dangerous. And when he tried to report the abuse some of us younger generation of the family were receiving, his career within the army was affected - it was disloyal to Queen and country, apparently. this was written by a fellow Irish Catholic soldier he knew.

mynewname there are so many incidents I could respond with to your post but tit for tat and who had it worse does no one any good at this stage imvho. Thankfully things have moved on and I just hope recent political events do not derail that.

somerville I can well believe your parent had that experience and that's why my Dad never revealed his background when joining the army. His family in NI kept very close ties with his mother in the UK but as I said Stop and Search was the only way he could be in contact with them for everyone's sake.

@MsGameandWatching, I know that's why I said there were bad eggs on all sides.

I have saw horrific things, heard horrific things and know people who horrific things happened too. Believe me I don't think there was justification for any of them on any side. I am not definitely not an advocate for tit for tat.

Haven't read the last few posts but to say NI people r small minded is just wrong. Maybe in some of the extreme areas but otherwise not. People in NI r so friendly.

As for what school most of the grammar schools took kids from any background. Mine also had a boarding part which meant a lot of kids from overseas. No one was ever bullied. This is the 90s I'm talking about.
Now there r many Integrated schools which take in 40% catholic 40% Protestants and the rest other religions.

I'm English living in NI and beyond the VERY OCCASIONAL jest made in good humour by someone who knows me well, I've never experienced any anti-English sentiment. My Northern Irish husband, however, was subjected to jokes about his Irishness (potatoes, terrorism, farmers etc) on a daily basis when we lived in England, and still does from some English friends. He's very good-humoured about the whole thing but honestly, the difference is stark and moving here made me realise how unwelcoming it must have been for him when he first moved to London. Whereas I've never experienced anything like that in NI.

NI isn't a small-minded place - in fact I've found quite the opposite, that people are much more willing to accept difference than anywhere else, although I think this is a legacy of the Troubles so wasn't necessarily true twenty or even ten years ago. However it is quite an inexperienced place when it comes to diversity - majority white, English-speaking population etc - which can lead to some backwards attitudes. However, most people I meet are very open to having their attitudes challenged and anything that seems bigoted is usually only due to ignorance, not malice. No different to areas of England with majority white populations in my experience - in fact, more open-minded in most cases.

As for Catholic / Protestant - well, there's still an 'old guard' who feel very vehemently about it, but it's definitely dying out and on a day to day basis, unless you live in a very hardline community, it's not really a massive deal. My (Protestant) niece goes to a Catholic school and her (Protestant minister!) grandfather happily goes along to, and is made to feel very welcome at, her school masses etc.

It's not the same place it was ten years ago - my husband says the same - and I'm very happy to be starting a family here. It's not perfect, but nowhere is, and in the meantime the fantastic education system, the good house prices, the growing economy, the community spirit, the pace of life, the stunning beaches and countryside, the great arts culture etc etc more than make up for its shortfalls. I'm happier here than I have been anywhere, bar London.

Yay peach! So happy you are loving it here, we may have to go back to London for work (as getting a good job if you’re not in a profession/family business/starting out) seems to be impossible, but we do love it here, it’s SO friendly and out kids love it, amazing schools etc. There are tons of English where I am, all seem to be really enjoying it!

Aw thanks @giddyupnow! Sorry to hear you might have to go back - although I would probably go back to London if we could afford it, but neither of us are career-orientated so we're better off here! Plus it really is a friendlier place, and I say that as someone who found London pretty friendly!

just thought I'd throw in my two cents-

I went to a Catholic girls' grammar in NI during the 00's. There were a few English or Australian catholic girls and they fitted right in. To be fair though, most of them had at least one parent who had been born in NI and moved away to England, then returned in later years. You probably would have been fine OP, we don't really hate English people you know.

BUT

It was pretty racist towards girls from eg. Asian cultures who had emigrated to NI in late childhood. There were very few and they tended to get ostracised, made fun of, and then hang out together because no-one would be friends with them. Rather awful really.