School.
 
Amidst great exhilaration, Croy School opened its doors for the very first time on Monday 2nd February 1903. The excitement of the people at having a Catholic school of their very own was remarkable. Forthwith, Catholic children were withdrawn from Drumglass School (almost emptying it as a consequence), and from the schools at Twechar, Condorrat, Cumbernauld and Cumbernauld Station. As well as these children, there was a number, some well over entry age, who had never been to school at all. All of these now became pupils of Holy Cross Croy School.
 
The first headmaster at Croy was Mr James Fallon. He was a fine gentleman, an excellent educator and a superlative Catholic. His work was made very difficult by the extreme shortage of teachers, as the Education Act of 1872 had demanded that teachers should be college-trained and certificated. This by no means prevented Mr Fallon from sowing the seeds of a solid educational tradition for our youth of that time.
 
Martin Keary who lived at The Thack, on the south side of Croy Station, was the first school janitor. His short period of service was followed by that of John Fitzsimmons who retained the position for many years. Eventually, as the complexity of church activities grew, John's duties became concentrated on the Church and James Docherty became janitor - both acting with great proficiency and fidelity - according to Father Charleson.
 
One early positive sign of the school's success was very apparent only three years after it opened. Croy School was the very first Catholic school in the County of Dunbartonshire to present pupils for the County Bursary Examinations and also the first to show success. The first two Bursary Competition candidates were Nellie Devine (later to become a headmistress at Penicuik) and Bridget McCann (later Heslin). They sat the Bursary Examination at Lenzie Academy, gaining fourth and fifth places respectively. This was followed by a year of study at Lenzie Academy and then the completion of their school education at Charlotte Street Convent Higher Grade School. Both girls then went on to attend Dowanhill Junior Student Centre which had been started in 1894 by the Sisters of Notre Dame at the request of Archbishop Eyre to help meet the educational needs of the Catholic community. There, Nellie and Bridget gained their Teachers' Certificates.
 
The year after the Bursary Competition successes of the two girls, another Croy pupil did even better by gaining third place in the County Bursary Examination. His name was Peter Wilson. The week after this success, three pupils, including Peter, were successful in the St. Mungo's Academy Bursary Examination in Glasgow. Peter Wilson won a five pounds bursary for two years, Alexander Campbell a four pounds bursary and  Hugh Mellon a three pounds bursary, each for two years - considerable sums of money in those days.
 
Peter Wilson followed a phenomenally successful career thereafter. He was the first Holy Cross Croy School pupil to enter Glasgow University from which he graduated, first as an M.A. and later M.B. Ch.B, thus becoming a doctor. After a period of World War I service, he worked as a doctor in Bellahouston Military Hospital before taking up a post with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. He worked for two years in Persia as a doctor until his tragically young death in a motor accident.
 
The school was inspected by H.M. Inspectorate three years after it opened. H.M.I. Miller's report, dated 27th April 1906, contained the following remarks: The record of this school since its opening three years ago is an honourable record of steady progress: the work and the attendance has improved from year to year: the tone of the school is exceedingly good.
 
Owing to the circumstances of the district prior to the opening of this school, the pupils at the outset were nearly all over age and backward, and the proportion of over age children is still very large, but this is being steadily remedied. The staffing is highly satisfactory both as regards quality and quantity and much credit is due to the teachers and particularly to the late Headmaster (Mr Fallon) for the good work they have done.
 
The new headmaster has made a promising start. It must be added that the success that the school has achieved would have been impossible, but for the energy and enthusiasm of the Rev. Manager (Father McCann) whose zeal for education is informed by an expert knowledge of schoolwork.
 
The report hints at the sad fact that, prior to the opening of Croy School, there were a large number of local Catholic children aged up to ten years who had never been to school at all. A few Catholic children did attend outlying Board Schools and some attended St. Patrick's School, Kilsyth, which was, anyhow, too small to take all the Catholic children from our part of East Dunbartonshire, even had they been able to travel there. It is worth observing that one Fourth Standard Class of children (aged twelve years) who were actually enrolled at Drumglass School, was taught for a time in the Recreation Room at Auchinstarry Rows. This accommodation, consisting of two miners' houses knocked into one space, was very small.
 
The general practice of the Cumbernauld School Board before Croy School opened was not to press for the attendance at school of Catholic children - there simply was not enough accommodation for all. The educational problems, even in the religious sphere, that this led to can be illustrated by the fact that after Croy School opened, there were seventeen boys and girls of school-leaving age (fourteen years) who had never made their First Confession or their First Holy Communion. These spiritual needs had to be urgently attended to before they started their working lives. Excellent progress in the spiritual development of the children is also clearly evident in the fact that, between the school's opening in February 1903 and the end of the summer term in the same year, nearly every pupil of the required age had attended their First Confession and made their first Holy Communion. The importance of this cannot be sufficiently stressed, for before the start of Croy's new Mission the opportunities for attending Mass, the sacraments (and school for the young) were only available with difficulty, entailing, as it did, the need to travel considerable distances in all weathers, usually on foot.
 
Father McCann was proud to declare that, after the first two terms of Croy School's existence, 'practical Catholicity was beginning to take a strong grasp of all the younger members of the Congregation of Holy Cross.'