The name Harland and Wolff conjures up many
images. Tragedy hovers on the fringes of
many of those images. It was in the sprawling
shipyard of Harland and Wolff that the Titanic was built by Belfast workers. The White Star Liner was launched on 31st
May 1911 but in less than a year the most awesome ship ever to come out of the
Belfast shipyard would sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Bruce Ismay was chairman of the White Star
Line which commissioned the liner and his name I came across many times in the
mid-1960’s when I frequented the beautiful countryside around Connemara. Ismay left the stricken Titanic in
controversial circumstances after it struck an iceberg on the night of 14th
April 1912. Criticised for doing so,
although exonerated by the British enquiry into the disaster, Ismay withdrew
from public life and spent a lot of his time at his fishing lodge at Costelloe
in County Galway. However, long after
his death which occurred in 1937, the Connemara locals were critical of Ismay,
the millionaire ship owner who survived the sinking of the Titanic while the
majority of the third class passengers including several Connemara men and
women, perished.
Harland and Wolff came to mind with the recent
announcement by Athy Lions Club of a concert planned for the Dominican Church
in Athy on Saturday, 28th April in aid of local Lions
charities. Topping the bill for the
concert is the Harlandic Voice Choir.
The choir was founded in 1944 in the Harland and Wolff shipyard by a
group of approximately 20 shipyard workers.
During the past 63 years the choir has had many successes at music
festivals in England, Scotland and of course Ireland and in 1983 came second in
Europe, competing against 200 other choirs in the “Let the People Sing” competition.
The choir has appeared many times on television featuring on programmes
on the BBC, UTV and RTE alongside such stars as Harry Seacombe, Moira Anderson,
Joseph Locke and Stuart Burrows. The
musical repertoire of the Harlandic Voice Choir ranges from operatic choruses
to Broadway musical hits and the performance in St. Dominic’s Church will mark
the choir’s first visit to Athy. It
promises to be a wonderful musical experience and because Athy Lions Club is
promoting the concert for local charities a “full house” can be expected on the evening of 28th
April. Tickets can be purchased in The
Gem, Winkles or in Martin Mullins office at Leinster Street.
I had intended to write of Athy Boy Scouts which
their notepaper claims as the “5th
Kildare Unit Athy Scouts”. The local
troop celebrated its 30th anniversary this month and Aidan
Prendergast who has been involved with scouting all of those years was to be
the focus of whatever was to be put in writing.
However, the best laid plans don’t always materialise and I have to
confine myself to extending good wishes to Aidan Prendergast and the team of
adult volunteers who have dedicated themselves to maintaining scouting in South
Kildare over the years. The Scout Centre
at St. John’s is located on the site of the Old Comrades Hall which was built
as a clubhouse for ex British soldiers following the first World War. It later became the centre of the local
Social Club, which in its heyday in the 1940’s and 1950’s had an extraordinary
powerful influence on the cultural and social development of the middle class of
this area. The Old Comrades Hall, or the
Social Club as it was known in later years, is no more. The scouting den of the 5th Kildare Unit
now occupies the site and the wish is that the next 30 years will bring even
more success to the local scouts.
I had a phone call from Riga in Latvia a few
days ago seeking information on Konrad Peterson who was manager of the Bord na
Mona peat factory in Kilberry from 1947.
I am sure many will remember Peterson who lived in Church Road. He emigrated to live with his only daughter
in Newfoundland following his retirement and the extended family returned to
live in Athy sometime in the 1970’s. Konrad
Peterson died in 1981 and is buried in Old St. Michael’s Cemetery. He was a man with an interesting past,
involved as he was in the Latvian Revolution of 1907, and if it is to be
believed, was also involved in Dublin’s Easter Rebellion of 1916. If you have any information on Konrad
Peterson or a photograph of him I would be delighted to hear from you.
The amalgamation of the boys and girls secondary
schools will take place later this year.
Scoil Eoin, formerly the Christian Brothers School, will hold a week of
events to celebrate its past which I gather will conclude with a celebratory
dinner in the Clanard Hotel on 12th May. The Annals of the Christian Brothers
Monastery commenced in 1861 with an entry dealing with the history of the house
at St. John’s Lane which would later be refurbished as the Brother’s
Monastery. The Annals continued and I
quote:
“Reverend
Andrew Quinn P.P. Athy and Canon of the Archdiocese of Dublin subsequently
built two schoolrooms with the aid of the parishioners and a few friends, but
chiefly with the assistance of the generous and truly charitable Mr. Pat Maher
of Kilrush in this county who principally at the suggestion of his eldest
daughter Mrs. Mary Teresa Maher, Superioress of the Convent of Mercy, St.
Michael’s, Athy gave £400. When the
schools were finished in the August of 1861, three brothers, viz John
Stanislaus Flanagan, director; Francis Luke Holland, sub-director and John
Patrick Sheely, lay brother were sent by our Very Rev. Brother Michael Paul
O’Riordan, superior general to conduct the establishment which was put into the
possession of the brothers on the 8th of August 1861 ..... the Brothers
commenced the school on 19th August 1861.”
In the intervening years thousands of young boys
have passed through the Christian Brothers School in St. John’s Lane and its
successors, Scoil Eoin in Rathstewart and St. Patrick’s National School in
Greenhills. Following the amalgamation
of the two secondary schools the Christian Brothers will no longer have any
involvement with secondary education in Athy.
Theirs was a long and fruitful engagement with education in Athy and
South Kildare and the only reminder we will have of the Christian Brothers past
links with this area is in the name Edmund Rice Square, given to the newest public
space created in the centre of Athy some years ago.
The Christian Brothers, like the Sisters of
Mercy, made an enormous contribution to improving the life and aspirations of
the people of Athy and district following the dreadful years of the Great
Famine. The Sisters of Mercy came to Athy
just a few years after the Famine, while the Christian Brothers arrived nine
years later. The educational facilities
afforded to boys and girls of this area following the arrival of the Christian Brothers
and the Sisters of Mercy brought advantages both educational and social which
had been denied to previous generations.
The new secondary school to be opened in September will be a far cry
from the two schoolrooms which John Stanislaus Flanagan and his colleagues
first opened to boys 146 years ago. I
would hope that at some early date there can be a joint celebration for both
the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy.
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