The Technical School was housed in a building which was originally designed as a theatre, called the Assembly Rooms. It was later used as a cinema — Carlow’s first — and subsequently remodelled and extended. It was officially opened by the then Minister for Education, the late Tom Derrig, in 1935.
The accommodation consisted of the C.E.O.’s office just off the front hall, a rather ornate, oval shaped room much admired by the late George Bernard Shaw who inherited the building from his aunt, a Mrs. Gurley. He presented it to Carlow U.D.C. with the typically Shavian proviso that it be used for the public of the town but not to relieve the rates. He also insisted that the façade remain unaltered but he would have no objection to having a statue of himself placed in one of the alcoves.
The upper floor consisted on three rooms, two being used for commercial studies, languages, etc., and the third for Domestic Economy (cookery and needlework). The lower floor (semi-basement) housed a woodwork shop and metalwork shop separated by a tiny room which was used for science, drawing, maths, etc. In keeping with practice at that time, all the practical rooms were laid out to accommodate sixteen students, a much more realistic teacher-student ration than at present, which enabled much more individual instruction to be given. Furthermore, practical classes were of two hours duration for much the same reason.
Classes started at 9:30 a.m. and ended at 3:30 p.m. with one hour lunch break, Monday to Friday. We had a staff of five whole-time teachers and two part-timers as well as the C.E.O. who, from choice, took a few classes also. The enrolment was about eighty students, thirty boys and the rest girls. The courses ran for two years in both Commercial and Trades subjects with a one-year course in Domestic Economy. Having completed the course, students, under normal circumstances, left off to take up employment, usually at the age of sixteen years. They had the option, however, of staying on for a further year to repeat the second year of the course. Many claimed that this was a distinct advantage because it consolidated their knowledge. Accommodation was not a problem in those days.
Towards the end of the 1944/45 session we decided to put on an open day for the public. This consisted not only of an exhibition of students’ work, which had been completed during the session, but also the visitors were permitted to wander through the classrooms and watch the students actually at work. Miss Mullally had her students not only cooking and sewing but also making soap and candles which were in very scarce supply at the time. Mr. Merne had his students making furniture, polishing, inlaying and engaged in making all sorts of useful gadgets in timber. Mr. Crotty had groups of students touch-typing to music which was most impressive. The small science room housed a few students carrying out simple experiments in Electro-magnetics, water purification, mechanics, etc. Even if I say so myself, I think my own contribution was the most impressive. Students were at work turning, forging, soldering, welding, grinding, etc., as well as the normal work at the vices such as filing, bending and riveting. I organised groups into a sort of mass production system where a job was passed from one student to the next and so on, each carrying out the same process continuously. Thus, we ended up at the end of the day with dozens of garden implements, fire irons, tundishes, etc. An engineer, Jack Jefferson, commented that he knew many of his colleagues who could not turn out work a good as some of the students. Day students only were involved up to 5 p.m. and evening class students took over after tea. So enthusiastic were the latter that they almost had to be forcibly ejected close to midnight.
The upshot of our open day was a big upsurge in day class enrolments, especially amongst the boys, and from then onwards our accommodation problem became acute until a stage was reached when we had thirty classrooms scattered over nine different buildings around town.
Because of the shortage of other lighting equipment in rural areas, e.g. candles, oil lamps, etc., a number of home electric generators came on the market. The most popular of these was the wind charger which consisted of a dynamo, usually 12, 24 or 36 volt, driven by a large propeller with a tailpiece to keep it facing into the wind. Having helped to erect one of the commercial units and having attended a special summer course in Cork on wind and water electric generating plants, I felt competent enough to hold a series of lecture demonstrations in a number of schools and halls throughout the county. Later, I ran special night classes for the manufacture of these units. From memory, I think we built nine, seven of which worked successfully although one which was left running in a storm burned itself out.
These units were made mainly from scrap motorcar parts. The generator was an obvious choice, a cradle made from the chassis side member, the tail piece from a body panel and various other bits and pieces for the rest. We cast brake drums from scrap aluminium gearbox and crank cases and part of the back axle formed what we referred to as the stub tower which supported the whole unit and enabled it to swing in the wind.
The most important part of our wind charger was the propeller or blade. This was made from good quality timber, supplied by Mr. Merne, and meticulously made as regards shape and weight. This was extremely important because at speeds up to 1,000 r.p.m. a one ounce out of balance would quickly shake the whole thing to bits.
I made a wind charger of my own while on the summer course in Cork and used it as a demonstration model during my lectures. Not having the facilities for testing it out on a pole in the ordinary way, I tried it out on a short stand one day when the wind blew strongly up Cox’s Lane just beside the school. I found it necessary to hold on to the stand and use my weight to keep the thing stable, and prevent it being blown over. Just as it was belting around goodo the wind suddenly veered and the blade came to a sudden stop against my head. I wasn’t knocked unconscious but my head was open to the bone and I spent four days in hospital as a result.
Shortly afterwards I was approached by a few local farmers from Killeshin who were exploring the possibility of constructing a water powered plant using the overflow from the reservoir. We started with great enthusiasm and we enlisted the help of Mr. Sean Cullinan, Town Engineer, with the design. Regretfully, the project never reached completion partly because of a shortage of cash but mainly because the E.S.B. decided to run a power line from Carlow to Rossmore via Killeshin. So far as I know the remains of the dam are still to be seen.
The names of students who come readily to mind and who were attending our night classes about that time, although not everyone built a windcharger of his own but often helped others to do so, are as follows:
Tom Trundle, Gus and Noel Brennan, Dan Graham, Tom Hoare, Seamus Murphy, Paddy Corcoran, Paddy Hickey, Mick Byrne, Mick Moore, John Fitzpatrick, John Gaffney, Sam McKenzie, etc.
Forgive me old timer if I’ve left you out.
Carlow was a much smaller town in 1940 than it is today. I used to claim that I could walk around it in twenty minutes which was almost literally true. A five minute cycle from Market Cross in any direction brought one outside the urban boundary and into the country. The only fault from my point of view was that it was so far from the sea. I missed it to such an extent that I occasionally cycled to Courtown, even in winter, merely to look at the sea. Having been born with a big harbour on my doorstep with the Atlantic Ocean just outside the point it is hardly surprising that the River Barrow, 100’ wide and two miles between locks, could hardly provide a reasonable substitute. I joined the boat club of course and spent many pleasant hours rowing in the pleasure boats, alas now long gone, but I tired rather quickly of the restricted scope of the river. I can’t help feeling, however, that it has considerable potentialities as a tourist attraction and with a little imagination, a fair bit of money and much hard work, it could be made into a very attractive boating centre. This thought occurred to me often as I gazed out the window of the new vocational School on Kilkenny Road during the winter floods when the river stretched from Otter Holt to the Clogrennane Road.
My first impression of Carlow was that it was a rather dirty little town. In those days a monthly cattle fair was held in Upper Tullow Street and Barrack Street and it is quite possible that I got the impression that the streets were perpetually paved in dung. There was no interference from traffic through these streets as there would be nowadays. Neither Riverside nor Kennedy Avenue existed and through traffic, such as it was, had to pass through Dublin Street. The establishment of the cattle mart in the Fair Green and the use of lorries to transport the beasts, put a stop to the mess.
Carlow streets were comparatively clean for years afterwards until the introduction of throw-away wrappings for take-away goods. At one time, especially on Mondays and after a football match or excursion hit town they looked like as if a riot had taken place. In recent years and as a result of the efforts of the U.D.C. and other civic mined citizens, in installing litter bins together with propaganda pressure, they are much improved. Also, the recently rejuvenated tidy Towns Committee have mad a great impact and are to be sincerely congratulated.
The war brought many problems to the residents of Carlow not the least of which was heating the homes. Fuel was scarce enough at the best of times although the mines at Rossmore were kept going pretty well. Turf was a poor substitute especially the hand won variety which occasionally received a good dousing of water before weighing. For three consecutive summers I rented a turf bank from the late Mike Dooley, Rossmore, and cut a winter’s supply. I met his son, Richie, recently and we laughed as we reminisced about those days and my initial efforts as a sleanman.
Never having cut turf before (or even seen a slean) I was very non-committal. Having asked to see what sort of implement he used, implying that the one we used in Cork was quite different, I examined it carefully and announced that I’d make one. He obviously didn’t believe me but was surprised when I arrived out a few days later with a pretty good copy of his. And so it was too except that it was left handed. I made another one later, right handed this time, but curiously enough I found that I could use the original more comfortably. I ended the season — an excellent one weather wise — with about seven tons of turf in my back yard at a total cost, including transport, of something over £2. My partners in this effort were Paddy McInerney and Bill Whitehead, next door neighbours.
After the third season, which turned out to be a very bad one, I switched to timber. Larry Nolan, a former caretaker in the Vocational School, was my partner this time, followed at a later stage by Bill Whitehead, and a tower of strength he proved to be. But for him I would have been killed or seriously hurt in my efforts to knock some of the trees we bought. It was hard work and guaranteed to keep a body warm from initial felling to the final stoking of logs on the fire.
As I got to know Carlow better I began to appreciate its merits and came to really like the place. The biggest factor in this, however, was the work and the school. I loved both and was so happy that I sometimes wondered if there was a catch. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered that the biggest catch was the school building which suffered from one major disadvantage in that it was incapable of expanding in any direction. It was hemmed in on all sides by streets or houses, its foundations wouldn’t carry another storey and springs under the basement precluded going downwards.
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- © 2001 County Carlow Genealogy IGP