Science, the humanities, maths, sport, prayers and rock music are all celebrated at the school founded 75 years ago by Christian Brothers. David Charters reports

DOWN in the sweating, trembling dive, the boys with guitars, quizzical stares and liquorice-stick legs posed for the flashing cameras of friends, while smiling fast at the girls in the wings – before their place on stage was filled by older men, scooping deep into their memories.

“We don’t need no education,” bellowed the lead singer, tall, dark-haired and angry, holding the microphone in the classic pose.

Good Heavens above! Is that the fruit from 75 years of Catholic grammar school education in the auld town? The founding Christian Brothers, those dedicated grammarians, would have been shaking their heads and drumming their fingers in despair, before seeking divine guidance.

Yet in the shadows of Liverpool’s Cavern Club, Simon Duggan, the headmaster, was listening, as a group of his teachers gave their interpretation of Pink Floyd’s 1979 hit, Another Brick in the Wall, with its ironic chorus.

And he was smiling and applauding in the spirit of the moment.

For those teachers had been billed alongside the boys from St Anselm’s College, Birkenhead, taking part in their own Battle of the Bands, watched by parents, fellow-pupils, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts.

Families together – that is the ethos of this school, which has seen thousands of pupils, from all sorts of social backgrounds, advance through Britain’s best universities.

To Old Anselmians, the school motto, Fides Quarens Intellectum (Faith Seeking Understanding) has meant a great deal.

So it will be much in evidence on badges and blazers at the school next Saturday, July 12, when the school celebrates its 75th anniversary with a Gala Summer Ball.

But, back in the cellar, another figure was listening to the groups, while tapping nimble feet, which had once skimmed over Army race-tracks and kicked footballs with delicacy and style.

Brian Cummings, Old Anselmian and chairman of the governors, is enthusiastic and unfailingly loyal.

His school embraces culture, whether it’s popular or classical. In this way, pupils from different economic circumstances and social backgrounds are drawn into a family, based on faith and trust, always striving for excellence in the classroom and on the field, but recognising that true nobility is found in tolerance and generosity of spirit.

And the boys respect this tradition, knowing that Simon – or “Sir” as they all call him – has seen a bit of life himself.

His guile, strength and fast fists won boxing Blues at Oxford University as a light-heavyweight and a middle-heavyweight in the ’80s, when he was also seen on grey afternoons, glooping in the mud with the back-row of the scrum for Oxford’s second XV, the Greyhounds.

On the academic front, he was studying for his MA in Modern history.

And St Anselm’s has its own place in modern history, providing Birkenhead with a grammar school for Catholic boys, which could match or beat Wirral’s other selective and independent schools.

Certainly, that was the ambition of the Christian Brothers who opened the school in 1933 at the invitation of the Bishop Shrewsbury, in whose diocese Birkenhead dwells.