OK, let's get this out of the way first. I am a lady. With ladybits. St Malachy's is a boys' college. For boys. But I'm going to review it anyway.
There are two reasons for this. One is that no-one can live in Belfast for any amount of time and not be aware of St Malachy's. The amount of young gentlemen I have met during the course of my, em, career who are past pupils of the place has been considerable, and they have all had nothing but good things to say about it.
The second reason is that back in my North Belfast News days, I interviewed the headmaster as part of a feature on the school. How pleased I was to go up that drive and into the hallowed halls of the school for a nosy. Yes, really. I'm a geek.
Dr Morrin took over an hour out of his very busy day to go through the history and ethos of the college with me, and it was one of my more memorable and enjoyable interviews. I was in St Malachy's, for freak's sake! As a ladyperson!
I mentioned that I had two ex boyfriends who were past pupils, and he remembered them both. Even better, although he was the soul of discretion, he clearly liked the good one and had dubious memories of the bad one. Ha.
An outstanding school and a Belfast institution. I still smile going past it on the bus up the Antrim Road. Oh, and their website is pretty good too. read more