Athy’s literary legacy is to be found in a large number of
publications starting with the Athy Literary Magazine which was to have a
longer life than later publishing ventures based in Athy. On sale every Tuesday, the small eight page
magazine cost one penny. Throughout its
short life the magazine gave an unvarying mixture of leading articles of local
interest, extracts from literary works such as Dickens, Pickwick papers and
material from national magazines of the period.
To these are added contributions poetic and otherwise from the magazine’s
local readers. The last known edition of
the Athy Literary Magazine was the 25th edition which appeared on
Tuesday, 17th April 1838.
Three years later Samuel Talbot published the first volume of “The
Press” which was intended as a monthly magazine devoted to the advancement of
science, literature and the industrial arts.
Consisting of twenty six pages, it cost four pence but unfortunately no
further edition appeared.
Looking through the material I have collected over the years, I came
across a long forgotten magazine, “The Green Hills” published at Christmas 1964
by pupils of the local Christian Brothers secondary school. The copy I have is
literally a photocopy of the magazine which was compiled and written by
students of Athy C.B.S. It’s of interest
to note that the magazine’s editor was Michael Keane who later became editor of
the Sunday Press. Michael informed his
readers that “the magazine was born in a moment of ambition which was quickly
immersed in a cloud of activity that included the forming of an editorial
board. “The magazine staff, which I assume also doubled as the editorial board,
consisted of Michael Keane Editor, Seamus Clandillon Entertainment, Gerard
Moriarty News Editor, Joseph McNamara
Sports and Martin Wall Features.
In its opening page two new teachers, “Mr. Hannon and Mr. Kelleher”,
were welcomed to the Athy school and while we learned that Mr. Kelleher was
middleweight champion in intervarsity boxing while a student in U.C.C.,
student/teacher relationship in 1964 did not apparently allow the student
reporter to mention the teachers first names.
Michael Stapleton, a second year student, gave voice to his
opposition to a six day school week. “It’s not fair to have to go to school six
days a week. I have to go nine and a half miles to Athy so I have to get up
early every weekday morning and also get up early on Sunday to go to Mass”.
Sixth year student Ger Moriarty filed a feature on girls whom he
described as “funny things” which explained, he claimed “why us fellows find it
so hard to understand them”. Anthony
Lynch a sixth year student and a member of the Kildare County Minor Team wrote
of his experiences in playing for his county in Croke Park.
“We quietly prepared ourselves for the proudest moment of our
youth. Following in the footsteps of so
many of my countrymen, I was playing for Kildare in Croke Park. As the minutes ticked away we had time to
admire the dressing rooms. The dressing
rooms were so big that they dwarfed us. Inspections
over, we received our usual final instructions and proceeded to the
tunnel. As the first man stepped on to
the field the silence was broken as the crowd erupted with cheers and
counter-cheers. We made our way quickly
to the Railway goal and the soft green formed a cushion beneath our feet as we
kicked the ball about. We won the toss
and defended the Canal goal. I really
felt deserted as I walked back to my position and would have given anything to
be up on the deck of the Hogan Stand”.
Michael Keane conducted an interview with Pat Mulhall, a former CBS
pupil of the early 1930’s, who described how each Wednesday afternoon was given
over to gaelic football, gymnastics, drill and figure marching. Pat, referring to former pupils who had
attained eminence in various spheres of life, expressed the hope that a picture
gallery or role of honour of former pupils who had brought honour to the school
would be set up in Athy CBS.
The pupils who contributed to The Green Hills magazine of fifty one
years ago certainly brought honour to their school with the publication of what
was Athy CBS first school magazine. Did
it I wonder continue beyond its first edition?
Those pupils, not all of whom are still with us, are scattered throughout
Ireland and further afield and included Philip Tierney, Michael Keane, Dan
Flinter, Vincent Gray, Timothy Doyle, Joseph McNamara, Dominic Timpson, Paul
Kelly, Donal Flanagan, Kevin Ryan, Alexander Kelly, Anthony McCarthy, Patrick
Merelehan, Tom Delaney, Alan Clarke, Dermot Lawler, Patrick Foley, Seamus
Clandillon, Michael Dineen, Anthony Lynch, Liam Fahey, Aidan Prendergast,
Michael O’Cathain, Jim McCarthy, Reg McHugh, Dan Luttrell, Liam Perse, Ned
Martin, Tony Higgins, John Fingleton, Michael Stapleton, Declan Caffrey, Frank
Ryan, Anthony McEvoy and Martin Wall.
Declan Caffrey second year
student penned the following lines :-
“We’re proud of our school and our greatest ambition,
Is to add to its honour and fame an addition,
Scoil na mBraithre
its called and we have no scruples,
In saying that its boys are the finest of pupils”.
Successive generations of CBS students would concur.
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