"Last of the Blanchelande Sisters" dies

Tuesday 27 August 2024

Sister Gertrude - a former teacher and headmistress of Blanchelande College - has died, with tributes being paid to her by students who attended the school during her time in the island.

The nun's death was announced in the newsletter shared by the island's Catholic churches over the weekend.

The notice said that "Sister Gertrude died on 19th August, she was the last of the Blanchelande Sisters. May She Requiescat in Peace."

Sister Gertrude had been living in Doncaster for at least the last decade, having moved back to the UK to continue teaching through the Order of the Sisters of Mercy in 1993.

Having retired from the Order of the Sisters of Mercy, Sister Gertrude had returned to her Christian name and was known as Sister Deirdre for the final years of her life. 

The former teacher had been in Guernsey until the early 1990s when Blanchelande College was based in St Martins. 

Pictured: The former convent in St Martins is now a residential and nursing home. 

The convent school was led by the Sisters of Mercy from 1956 until 1993 when it closed and they left the island to work elsewhere.

Prior to the Sisters of Mercy running the school, it had been overseen by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, with their Order leaving Guernsey in 1956.

When the Sisters of Mercy were called to work elsewhere, Blanchelande College was reopened at Rosaire Avenue. The school initially ran across two sites during the 1992/93 school year before the convent in St Martin's closed in June 1993. The College moved to its current location at Les Vauxbelets in 1999. No nuns have taught at the school since Sister Gertrude and others including Sister Stanislaus and Sister Ellen left the island during the summer of 1993.

Those past pupils who were taught by the Sisters have shared memories of Sister Gertrude in the Facebook Group 'Blanchelande Reconnected' since the news of her death was published.

"She was definitely my favourite nun during my time at Blanchelande," wrote one past pupil, with another writing: "She was one of the good ones."

Tributes paid to Sister Gertrude have included recollections of her "big heart", "kind face", and her "great sense of humour".

One former pupil wrote that Sister Gertrude was "someone who taught me values and ethics which I always think about. She taught girls to stand tall. I think she saw the best in each child and she knew every family. I used to feel that she could read everyone’s minds. I shall always remember Sister Gertrude with gratitude for everything she did for me."

Pictured: The former Blanchelande College (now a nursing and residential home). Image above and top taken from the Blanchelande Reconnected Facebook page.