BACK TO SCHOOL TIME

by Tom Kenny

This is the time of the year when our thoughts turn to schoolbooks, copy books, pens and pencils, bus schedules etc. as we prepare our children and grandchildren for the new school year. Inevitably it brings our thoughts back to our own school years, the friendships we formed, the teachers we liked or disliked.  In those first days in class one felt one had been abandoned by one’s mother as she left you in with a crowd of complete strangers presided over by an adult that one had never seen before. In the case of anyone who went to Scoil Fhursa that adult was known as Bean Uí Duignan. She was a saint who quickly became a surrogate mother to every child that entered her classroom, walked them up and down the clós during sosanna and prepared them for whatever was ahead.

Scoil Fhursa was built in 1862 as a boarding school, a place of worship and a dwelling house. It was what was known as a ‘bird’s nest’, a place of proselytizing where soup, food and clothes were used to try and convert children of the Catholic poor from the ‘errors of Popery’. In 1905/6 the boarding school ceased to function and it became a place of recreation for the British Army. The Gaelic League used it as a summer school for a few years.

The building consisted of a church and a schoolroom facing south; the centre was a dwelling house where the administrator lived; behind was the refectory and the dormitories were upstairs; in all there were 12 rooms. The Department of Education bought the building in 1931 and on the 24^th of April, 1933, Scoil Fhursa opened as an all-Irish Primary School. Eleven boys and twenty girls were present. It was the first national school in Salthill apart from a few private ones. The first two teachers were temporary … Eibhlín Ní Bhaoill and Éilís Seoighe. They were soon joined by Bean Uí Duigneáin, Bean Uí Sedwards, Bean Uí Bhroin, Nora Ní Neachtain, Máire Breathnach and Cáit Ní Ríordáin. Boys could attend until they were ten years old, girls could stay until 6^th class.

During the winter, there were coal fires in each classroom but they did not seem to give out much heat. Occasional visits by the dentist were terrifying events as the school was rife with rumours of pain and torture. The annual UCG ‘rag’ was also a frightening experience for the little ones, wild creatures dressed in strange clothes invading the school. The games in the yard were always lively and noisy and only rarely involved boys playing with girls. I got kissed by a girl during one such game, it was probably more of a punishment than anything, but I still remember it!

Our photograph was taken in 1951/52 and shows a large group of students. Among the boys are Billy Murphy, J.J. Coppinger, Jim Cradock, Pat Fahy, Terry Langan, John McDermott, Eamonn Carroll, Dave Barry, Michael Tomkins, Mick Roche, Tommy Gilmore, Odran O’Leary, Brian Cunningham, Dennis Muldoon, Eoin O’Carra, Pádraic O'Doherty, Seán O’Dea, John McAlinney, John McNally, Mick Higgins, Ralph Ryan, Dennis Reidy, Proinsias Ó Cléireacháin, Paddy Buckley, Seán O’Driscoll, Frank Heneghan, Seán Tyrrell, Des Doherty, Larry Cheevers, John O’Donnell.

Among the girls are Fiana Ní Dhúbháin, Coirle Forde, Columba Conroy, Anne Sarsfield, Colette Ashe, Doreen Greally, Evelyn Keane, Patsy Higgins, Bríd Fahy, Anne Flynn, Margaret Hartigan, Etáin Ní Lorcáin, Frances Buckley, Nives Lydon, Mary Naughton, Anne Lee, Margaret Healy, Nuala Stewart, Deirdre Mee, Theresa McTigue, Fiona Higgins, Anne Glynn, Yvonne McGuirk, Mary O’Donnell, Róisín Ní Charra, Mairéad O’Keeffe, Margaret Molloy, Mary O’Shea, Bairbre Ní Bhrolcháin, Aldona Ní Ghiolla Bhríde, Mary Mannion, Mary O’Flynn and Mary Keating.