Stanwell,
I know that the Christian Brothers, among many other educational bodies, have been getting a very bad Press in the paedophile-hunts of recent years, but all I can do is to speak of the time I was with them (nine years from 1929 to 1938).
I started as a "new bob" in the Christmas term of '29 at the tender age of seven. My school trunk opened to disclose my teddy-bear (put in without telling me by my dear old Mum to comfort me, complete with a pair of tiny striped flannel pyjamas which she [a skilled needlewoman] had made for him). Oh, the shame !
I left in '38 as the Senior Prefect. In all that time I never saw or heard of anything of that despicable kind - and I would certainly have heard if there had been the slightest suspicion of any such thing.
Certainly they drove us hard, but they turned out the exam successes, had a waiting list for places (annual fees [adjusted for wage inflation] £15,000 for boarders).
Danny.