St Sebastian's School - (now L?Arche ) Lockerby Road

Image: © Sue Adair Taken: 19 Jun 2008

St Sebastian's School first opened in May 1909 with 131 pupils. The school moved to a new building in Holly Road in 1980 but the old school is still in use today by the L"Arche community. "L’Arche Liverpool is Christian Community of 150 people in central Liverpool where people with and without learning disabilities live and work together. It was a Dominican priest called Père Thomas Philippe who helped Jean Vanier 'begin something' with people with learning disabilities, about 40 years ago in France. Jean, originally an officer in the Royal Navy, had become an academic in Canada, but he felt increasingly called to this different life. He met two men called Raphael Simi and Philippe Seux who were living in a large institution near Paris - the only home they'd known for many years. Jean invited them to come and make a home with him. He knew he could not help everyone, but that by helping a few, together they might be a sign to others. L'Arche first arrived in the UK in 1974 with help from Jean's sister, Thérèse, a London doctor. The first community opened in Kent. There are now nine communities in the UK." Information taken from the website below: http://www.larcheliverpool.org/index.php

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0