Social activities were curtailed for much the same reason. Not having grounds of any sort attached to the school we were obliged to play football in the Blues field — the present County Council machinery yard. We cycled to Castledermot and Knockbeg for away matches. We held a ceilidhe once a month after classes on Fridays in the woodwork shop which was also pressed into service for film shows, lectures, student meetings, etc. We ran an annual dance in the Ritz Ballroom and I was proud of the fact that I succeeded in teaching the students not only the usual Irish dances but the much more difficult sixteen hand reel. I also tried to get P.E. going with a little boxing thrown in, with less success. In later years the school provided a couple of useful rowing crews.
In the early days the normal quota of teaching hours was 25 per week for whole-time teachers, including two night classes, each of two-hour duration. But it was not unusual for a teacher to take on extra classes voluntarily. I recall Mr. Merne, who already had four nights teaching being talked into taking a further class in woodwork for ladies. During the windcharger days I allowed any student who wished to do so to work on beyond the usual time, 9 p.m., and more than once had to plead with them to go home “because it was getting on for midnight.”
For a town of its size Carlow was — and still is — well catered for socially. Myles Shevlin is credited with making a list of all the voluntary organisations in town, many years ago, and he came up with the figure of one hundred and fifteen. These included such diverse activities as sodalities, photography, athletics, chess, industrial development, P.T.A.A.A, swimming, Gaelic League to name just a few. I became interested in about 25 of these (making a grand total of over 50 in my lifetime to date). I merely dabbled in some, helped inaugurate others, helped to bury more than one and threw myself whole-heartedly into others. I found, from experience, tht the more I put into any organisation, the more I got out of it. Conversely, if for any reason I was unable to take more than a passive interest in a club I quickly lost interest in it and fell by the wayside. The club to which I owe my first and longest allegiance is County Carlow Football Club (rugby) and the one from which I probably derived the greatest personal satisfaction is the Holy Angels Day Care Centre for mentally handicapped children.
One thing often struck me about many of the organisations which I joined was the frequency with which the same faces kept popping up. I suspected that most of these were, like myself, blow-ins, and were obliged to either sit at home or in digs, resort to the nearest pub or seek companionship in the club of his or her choice. They certainly had plenty to choose from.
In addition to the voluntary organisation which I joined in town (see list) there were a few with which I became associated without becoming an actual member. The Old Carlow Society is one case in point. I was called upon more than once to act as projectionist for film and slide shows and, when I became Principal, I made the school premises available for lectures and exhibitions.
Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland, Carlow Troop, also roped me in when building their den. Johnny Harding, Mick Brennan and myself spent a number of weekends cutting down obsolete telephone poles along the disused railway line from Borris to Goresbridge. Fr. J. O’Leary, the then scout Chaplin, was the prime mover there and provided transport and power tools to do the job. The poles were used to build the den in the grounds of the Youth Centre and stand as a worthy monument to many hours of sweat and not a little blood.
Two of my sons, Paddy and Frank, were active members of the troop around that time. The latter took charge of a group of scouts on a fruit picking bee at Clonroach, Co. Wexford, one summer. The purpose of this effort was to raise money for the troop which was not as easily achieve as it might appear at first. The pickers were permitted to eat as much as they wished (try stopping them) and were paid so much per lb. for the unconsumed fruit. The admonition K.Y.B.O. was quite unnecessary after the first few days.
One of my ambitions around that time was to survey Carlow town as a scout project during the summer months and to translate this into a scale model during the winter, for permanent display in the den. Regrettably, this did not materialise.
The nationwide recession did not hit Carlow quite so badly as other towns. There was nevertheless quite an appreciable exodus of young people from the surrounding countryside. It is estimated that up to 500 per week, at one stage, boarded the train at Carlow station en route for Great Britain, etc. It was my boast, however, that no graduate from the Technical School emigrated from necessity. And the few that did, did so from choice, occasionally leaving a job here for one overseas, often not as good. The Sugar Co., and Thompsons were the main sources of employment for our students but most of the other local firms, garages, builders, offices, shops, service establishments took their share. The armed forces, Army Apprentices, Air Corps, Naval Services as well as the Garda Siochana filled their quotas. Many students went far afield into various trades and professions and there are records of many thousands of boys and girls from the school who made their mark over the past 48 years and even earlier. I can’t recall having ever known a genius amongst them but many, many very industrious and intelligent young people, who, by dint of hard work and singularity of purpose attained posts of responsibility and affluence.
The following is merely a representative list of a group of many hundreds of students who, in later life, carved a substantial niche for themselves at home and abroad in industrial, commercial and political life:
Jack Carroll, David Cody, Milo Filgas, Des Fitzgerald, Malachy Ryan, Michael Hyland, Andy O’Neill, Michael Creegan, Martin Nevin, Liam Maddock, Paul Lyons, Michael Broderick, Michael O’Reilly, Tony Howard, Jim O’Brien, Seamus O’Rourke, etc.
Again, apologies for omissions.
Then, there were those who brought honour, not only to the school, and town but to their country as well by being selected to represent Ireland in International Apprentice Competitions:
Seamus Thornton, Toddy Kelly, Tom Cloury, Liam Corrigan, Dermot Scully, Paul Byrne, Pat Pender, Liam Shore.
Records also show that close on forty students entered the teaching profession in my time, over fifty of whom turned up at a function in 1978 to wish me a happy retirement. The names of two who come most readily to mind are the late Jack Fitzgerald, former Principal of Hacketstown Vocational School, and Liam Hayden, the present Vice Principal of Carlow V.S. Again, rather than trust a faulty memory, I had better not try to give a fuller list of names.
In 1947 or thereabouts someone invented “An Tostal”, a sort of festival designed to extend the tourist season in Ireland in both directions, especially earlier in the year to include Easter. Carlow, like most other towns and cities in the country took to the idea wholeheartedly and organised all sorts of functions to that end. Virtually every organisation in town contributed something either in cash or in kind and for several weeks a whole series of functions, exhibitions, shows, concerts, dramas, sports, aquatic events, parades, etc., took place in and around town and open to the public, mostly free of charge. Unfortunately, we ran out of steam after a few years and the idea was allowed to lapse. But it did show what could be done by a properly motivated community.
Carlow has trebled in size, area and population, over the past half century. The urban area has had to be extended to incorporate the large number of housing estates which have sprung up, not to speak of industries, institutes, schools, colleges, clubs and sports facilities. Time was when I could name every street, lane and road in town. Today, there are estates that not alone I could not name but that I probably have never seen. On the other hand, places that existed years ago are hardly memories today. How many readers remember the list herewith? Or state with any degree of certainty where the establishments listed were located?
How well do you know Carlow?
Where was? Answer Brewery Lane From Bridewell Lane to River Burrin Skinners' Lane Corcoran's Arch to River Barrow Walsh Lane Chaff Street to Marlboro Street Morrin's Lane Church Street to Marlboro Street High Street Sleaty Street near G.A.A. grounds Bachelor's Walk West bank of R. River Burrin Barrow Street Marlboro Street to R. River Barrow Connacht Street Further upstream of above New Street Green Road, near Co. Council yard Grave Lane Athy Road to Old Graves through Park Accommodation Road Green Lane to Pollerton Road Bridge Street Pollerton Road to Staplestown Road The Strand Burrin Street to Coal Market Vegetable Market Marlboro Street near Bridge
Where was? Location Now Occupied by County Workhouse Kilkenny Road Vocational School Slater’s Cinema Burrin Street Carlow G.P.O. Assembly Rooms Dublin Street County Library Tynan’s Hotel Tullow Street Ritz Shopping Centre County Infirmary Dublin Road Sacred Heart Home Military Barracks Barrack Street Sacred Heart Home (former) County Gaol Hanover Thompson’s Works (former) Gas Works Montgomery Street Brennan’s Bacon Factory Electricity Station Ballymanus Terrace Vacant Lot Canal Stores Barrow Track Carlow Rowing Club Fever Hospital Green Lane Youth Centre Yellow Lion Burrin Street Credit Union Green Dragon Kilkenny Road Field opposite Otter Holt Bluebell Dublin Road Private Dwelling National Bank Dublin Street St. Anthony’s Chapel Provincial Bank Dublin Street I.C.S. Building Society McHugh’s Foundry Green Lane/Pollerton Rd. Grocery Store
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- © 2001 County Carlow Genealogy IGP