Scoil Mhichil Naofa

St. Michael’s School opened in October 1852 when Sisters of Mercy from Baggot Street Convent in Dublin arrived in Athy to take possession of the small Convent building and school which had been built on Church grounds near Clonmullin.  It is estimated that almost 500 young girls presented themselves for enrolment, but as it was a time of non-compulsory school attendance the school numbers fell to approximately 100 within 3 years.  At the same time pupil numbers in the Model School had increased to almost 400, much to the dismay of the Archbishop of Dublin and the local Catholic clergy who were vehemently opposed to the non-denominational system of education available there.  A strong campaign was mounted by the Sisters of Mercy, headed by a new entrant to Athy Convent, Margaret Slevin who took the name Sr. Paul.  Encouraged by the local clergy the number of children attending St. Michael’s School gradually increased so that by 1858 it was necessary to build an extension to the Convent to provide school accommodation for infant boys.

In 1866 two houses on the Kilkenny Road, which was known locally as the Turnpike Road on account of the tolls once collected as travellers left Athy, came into the possession of the Sisters of Mercy.  The property had an unexpired lease of 16 years and for that period the Sisters of Mercy used the building (which now forms part of the Minch Norton complex) as a school to facilitate children who lived on that side of the town.  Two of the Monitresses from the Convent School were appointed to the Turnpike School and two Sisters of Mercy also attended each day to supervise and give religious instruction.  The Turnpike School closed after 16 years when the owners sought possession of the building on expiration of the lease. 

In the meantime a boys infant school had been built for the Sisters of Mercy in the garden plot to the front of the Convent building.  Constructed at a cost of approximately £600 the three classroom building dedicated to St. Joseph would remain in use until 1960 when it was demolished to facilitate the building of a new Parish Church.  It was in St. Joseph’s that hundreds of young lads from Athy had their first experience of school.  The three years spent there under the careful tutelage of Sr. Brendan and her colleagues in the Sisters of Mercy were happy carefree times and I have very fond memories of St. Joseph’s School which I attended in the late 1940s. 

In October 1882 the Sisters of Mercy acquired for £150 a field containing almost 6 acres to the rear of the Convent.  The field which at one time formed part of the Commons of Clonmullin was sold by local Solicitor Edward Lord before he and his family emigrated to Canada.  This field, where Fr. Theobold Matthew had once conducted a Temperance Meeting and administered Temperance Pledges to Athy men, was to be the site of a new primary school.  However eleven years were to pass before the school was built.  The foundation stone for the new building was laid by Archbishop Walsh of Dublin on 26^th June 1882.  Construction work on the school was carried out by the firm of Dan Carbery Senior who sadly passed away on 8^th July 1893, just a month before the school was officially opened by Archbishop Walsh.

The school building of 1893, built to accommodate 400 pupils, had 530 pupils in 1952 when the Sisters of Mercy Convent celebrated it’s centenary.  During the centenary celebrations it was announced that the Sisters of Mercy proposed to build a new primary school to accommodate 900 children so as to cater for the needs of the growing population of the district.  It took another six years for those plans to come to fruition.  On 23^rd October 1958 the new primary school was opened and blessed by Dr. John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin.  The school building which had accommodation for 800 pupils had 18 classrooms, a library, a domestic economy classroom, administrative offices, cloakrooms and a teachers staffroom.  The building contractors were the local firm of D. & J. Carbery and it was a previous generation of the same family which had built the town’s second primary school for girls 65 years previously. 

On the day of the opening of the school hundreds of school children formed a guard of honour for the Archbishop when he arrived by car in Athy, the town being decorated with bunting and papal flags.  He was greeted on his arrival by Rev. Vincent Steen, P.P. and the Superioress of the Sisters of Mercy in Athy, Rev. Mother of the Sacred Heart.  The local curates, Fr. Larry Redmond, James Cuneen and Frank Mitchell were also in attendance.  The Archbishop opened the school with a golden key presented by the Architects, Ms. O’Connor and Alyward of Dublin and later presided over a Mass, celebrated by Fr. Frank Mitchell in the new school’s assembly hall.

The school, now re-named Scoil Mhichil Naofa, had a state of the art assembly hall with maple flooring, modern stage lighting and curtains, with a seating capacity of 400.  It was claimed by a Department of Education Inspector to be the ‘finest assembly hall in any school in Ireland.’  I well remember the opening of the school as I was the Mass server who on the day carried the processional cross which preceded the Archbishop as he walked through the school building.  I recently came across a photograph which appeared in the following days Irish Independent of the Archbishop and the Parish Priest with a number of the nuns standing at the main door of the school.  Behind them was a solemn faced young Mass server standing to attention with the processional cross tightly held in both hands.  My first and only claim to fame!

On Saturday, 11^th October, the 50^th anniversary of the opening of Scoil Mhichil Naofa will be celebrated with an open day in the school commencing at 10.00 a.m.  The day long events will go on until 5.00 p.m. and include a varied programme of exhibitions and cultural events.  Later that evening at 7.00 p.m. in the Parish Church Bishop Eamonn Walsh will celebrate what the programme describes as ‘an international Mass’.  The entire day promises to be a memorable occasion and gives all of us an opportunity of revisiting our school days and perhaps even more important acknowledging the huge contribution the Sisters of Mercy and the teachers who replaced them have made to education in Athy.

Were the young boys in this photograph the first boys to be enrolled in Scoil Mhichil Naofa after it opened in 1958?  The photograph was taken on Confirmation Day 1962.  A copy of Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of ‘Eye on Athy’s Past’ to the first reader who can identify all of the boys in this photograph.

Dissolving Boundaries / Scoil Mhichil Naofa and Cairncastle

On Thursday evening 4^th class students from Scoil Mhichil Naofa brought their parents and some Athy locals through their involvement to date in a unique cross border experiment which goes under the title of ‘Dissolving Boundaries’.  This is a North South initiative funded by the two governments on this island whereby selected schools in the Republic make and maintain links with schools in the North using the most updated communication technology, including video conferencing and online discussion with the assistance of computer resources and facilities provided by Dell and Eircom.  The young girls from Scoil Mhichil Naofa are linked with the school in Cairncastle, Co. Antrim and since earlier this year the two schools have developed mutual understanding using computer links and personal contacts between school children.

I was invited to last night’s presentation to give a talk to the Athy children and their parents with regard to the historical connections between Athy and the wee village of Cairncastle in County Antrim.  It seemed a daunting task when first mentioned to me for I did not even recognise the name of the village which I must have driven through two summers ago while on a brief holiday along the Antrim coastline.

The first link, as one might expect, was found in the high Presbyterian presence in Cairncastle.  The parish of that name has a population of approximately 2,000, while the village itself probably consists of 100 or so.  Most of them practiced the Presbyterian faith and there has been a Presbyterian ministry in that area since 1646, just 33 years after the first Presbyterian Minister was recorded in Ireland.  Athy had its first Presbyterian Minister in 1717 when a number of rich merchants in Dublin provided funding for a Dr. Thralkield to minister in the South Kildare town.  Following the 1798 Rebellion there was no record of Presbyterianism in Athy until the arrival of Scottish tenant farmers who came to this area from 1851 onwards on the invitation of the Duke of Leinster.  Four years later their kirk or church was built on the Dublin Road and continues to be used as a place of worship to this day.

Perhaps the most intriguing connection I found was in the person of Edward Bruce, brother of the Scottish King, who landed with his troops at Larne in 1315.  Larne is just 4 miles from Cairncastle and the Scottish Army in its attempt to wrest control of Ireland from the English marched southwards as far as Athy.  It was at the Moate of Ardscull on 26^th January 1316 that Bruce’s Army and the English Royalists fought a famous battle in which many on both sides were killed.  The Scottish dead were buried in Athy’s Dominican Friary, while their English opponents were laid to rest in St. Michael’s.  So a very real connection between the tiny village of Cairncastle and the town of Athy has existed for almost 700 years. 

As you might expect there is a Masonic Lodge in Cairncastle, but in an amazing coincidence that Lodge shares the same name with its counterpart in Athy.  St. John’s Masonic Lodge Carincastle was established in 1807, while St. John’s Lodge Athy came into being 33 years later.  Intriguingly the Cairncastle Lodge offers the information that it meets ‘on a Friday on or before the full moon’. 

Athy for over 20 years has hosted the Bluegrass Festival and Cairncastle, as part of its Ulster Scots Festival, holds a Bluegrass evening.  Maybe the cultural exchanges between the two areas could be extended to have our local musicians ‘Woodbine’ invited to play at this year’s festival in the County Antrim village.

A name very familiar to Athy folk provided another slightly tenuous link, even if I could not find any direct connection between the two.  Cairncastle boasts a curious old building known as Shaws Mansion built in the early 17^th century on the seashore commanding a view of the Bays of Cushendale and Glenarm.  Here, of course, Athy was for many decades the headquarters of Shaws ‘Almost Nationwide’ and Shaws first department store is still to be found on our main street.

When next the school children of Cairncastle and Athy meet face to face they will have even more reasons to acknowledge their common links and shared experiences.  Well done to the 4^th classes of Scoil Mhichil Naofa on a project which is both innovative and hopefully beneficial to the local communities on both sides of the border.

On my way home from addressing the children and parents in the Halla Mór I saw Gerry Kelly and the members of the Tidy Towns Committee working late into the evening on improving the appearance of our town.  The members of the Tidy Towns Committee are to be congratulated on their wonderful community spirit. 

Memories Project - Scoil Mhichil Naofa

The girls from 5^th and 6^th class of Scoil Mhichil Naofa Athy have just completed a Memories Project in which grandparents were interviewed on camera about times past.  The project is a pilot scheme before its rollout across the country by the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland. 

Oral history is accepted as an important source of material, especially for the history of localities and the people of those localities.  The choice of grandparents as the material source is understandable given the knowledge and experience gathered by people of advanced years.  Not everyone interviewed would necessarily see themselves as falling within the elderly category.  I was one of those non believers, for even though I initiated the project with the good help of the Principal Mary English I found myself falling within the age category which was deemed likely to yield useful information about life in Athy 50 or 60 years ago.  Despite the fact that I am a grandfather three times over I have never conceded that my chronological age is so advanced of my mental age as to justify my being described as elderly.  It was a gentle shock to the system to be approached by the class teacher to be interviewed as an elderly member of the community.

The subsequent interview by four young school girls, monitored by a teacher who doubled as camera and sound girl, proved to be a rewarding experience.  I was asked questions I should have asked my parents in their time, questions which brought me back decades to a life which was so different to that I enjoy today.  Forgotten memories of youth came tumbling back as each question prised open a bit further that door behind which recollections and memories are stored just like items no longer in use are put away in the attic and then forgotten.  The two hour interview was a mental cleanout of some of my past memories, ranging over many aspects of life in Offaly Street in the 1950s.  I couldn’t but draw comparison with life today and acknowledge how so much has improved, certainly in the material sense. 

The two up two down home life of the 1950s with an outside toilet and a zinc bath on the kitchen floor on a Saturday night is just a memory.  Hand me down clothes were an accepted part of the sartorial life of a boy who followed three older brothers and the corduroy jackets so popular in the mid 1950s are indelibly imprinted on my mind. 

Nowadays almost every family has a car.  I can remember a time when the only car on Offaly Street was that belonging to Bob Webster who was manager of the cinema in the same street.  The only cars I can recall passing up and down Offaly Street where the young Kellys, Websters, Whites, Moores and Taaffes played football belonged to Archdeacon McGinley, the Church of Ireland Rector and the two doctors, John Kilbride and Jeremiah O’Neill.  I can still see Tadgh Brennan’s car parked, as it was all day, outside his offices (now Toss Quinns) in Emily Square where it would be impossible even to park a bicycle today. 

I am sitting at my desk writing this as snow drifts a few feet high can be seen outside my window.  The house is insulated against the cold and warmed by a central heating system, both of which were unknown to house tenants of the 1950s.  I use the term ‘tenants’ as none of the families in Offaly Street were house owners in the 1950s.  The turf burning range in the kitchen was the only source of heat and the kitchen was where daily life was lived.  The visits to Hickeys butcher shop in Emily Square, to Jim Fennins grocery shop in Duke Street and to Dalys of Stanhope Street for milk can no longer be made.  All have gone, replaced by the ubiquitous one stop shop, the supermarket.  We no longer walk or cycle to work.  The car is king and the roads laid down in medieval times and bridges built in the 18^th century for horse drawn carriages still do service today for those who benefit from Henry Ford’s inventive mind. 

Perhaps the biggest change in Irish life today compared to life in the 1950s is the change in people’s attitude to authority.  Whether that authority is Church or State the modern Irish man and woman is no longer the same subservient person who once felt cowed by unquestioned church authority and politicians whose every word and action were believed and trusted. 

Times have changed and attitudes have hardened.  Those of us who enjoyed our young days and have more happy than sad memories tend to look back to the old days with rose tinted glasses.  Perhaps it was because we were young that only good memories have persisted.  We were young and carefree and once we had enough to eat we had little or no concerns.  It was not the same for everyone because truly in the 1950s many families experienced very hard times.  Their memories will be mixed but for all of us there is the realisation that life 50 or 60 years ago was so different than today and as such memories of those days will hold interest for today’s younger generation. 

The Memories Project involving the 5^th and 6^th class of Scoil Mhichil Naofa could not have been completed without the help of the School Principal and the various teachers involved.  My thanks to the young girls, the teachers and the School Principal for helping to record a part of Athy’s most recent history.

Special events to remind us of Athy’s history

The celebrations which marked the 50th anniversary of Scoil Mhichil Naofa went off with wonderful aplomb last weekend. Great credit is due to all concerned, teachers, pupils and parents alike. The emphasis on the 50th anniversary of what was essentially the opening of the school building probably obscured for many parents the longer history of national schooling in Athy. Scoil Mhichil Naofa, opened in 1958, merely reflected a name change. Where before its predecessor went under the name St. Michael’s School, the new building, blessed and opened by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid of Dublin on 23rd October of that year was to be home to Scoil Mhichil Naofa. The use of the Irish version of the school name did not mean that its previous history stretching back to 1852 was to be disregarded, or thereafter to be ignored. There is a danger that in celebrating the 50th anniversary the previous 106 years would be submerged and overlooked. How nice therefore to see that the Sisters of Mercy, now retired, participated in the celebrations. Their involvement was a reminder, if same was ever needed, that the legacy of the followers of Catherine McCauley is one which adorns the history of education in Athy. The Sisters of Mercy share with the now absent Christian Brothers our town’s gratitude for their magnificent contribution to the education of several generations of young Athy folk. If nothing else the Scoil Mhichil Naofa celebrations remind us yet again of our debt to both the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers.

The last weekend in October has for the last eight years occupied a special place in the cultural life of our town. For some, the SHACKLETON AUTUMN SCHOOL holds little or no interest, but for others, thankfully, the October bank holiday weekend offers a unique opportunity to see some of the world’s best polar experts take to the podium in the local Town Hall. That same room which in the past echoed to the sound of dance bands or provided theatrical space for touring fit up companies will this year host speakers from America, England and Ireland.

This year the 8th Autumn School is hosting a major exhibition of photographic portraits being part of an exhibition coming to Athy from the Museum of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, England. After Athy, the exhibition will travel to the Exployers Club in New York and later to the Royal Geographical Society in London. The South Kildare town will be the only Irish venue to feature this important exhibition. In addition to the portraits the exhibition will also include unique polar photographic equipment. This exhibition is a not to be missed and the fact that Athy has been able to secure it is an indication of the high standing of Athy Heritage Centre in the world of polar exploration.

The Autumn School opens on Friday, 24th October with the launch of the second volume of ‘Nimrod’, the Journal of the ERNEST SHACKLETON AUTUMN SCHOOL. This will be followed by the opening of the Polar Portraits Exhibition, during which Dr. Huw Lewis-Jones, Curator of Art at the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge and editor of ‘Face to Face’, an account of pioneering photography, will give a talk on the exhibition. Events on Friday commence at 7.30 p.m. and an invitation is extended to all to come along to the Heritage Centre. There is no cover charge on Friday night.

Saturday sees the first of four lectures starting at 10.30 a.m. The lecturers that day include Dr. Jim McAdam of Queens University in Belfast whose chosen topic is ‘Shackleton and Chile’. From England comes Kari Herbert, daughter of the distinguished polar explorer, Sir Wally Herbert who at 12 noon will speak on ‘The Hero’s Heart – the women behind Polar Exploration’. Saturday afternoon is given over to E.C. Coleman who has published two volumes on polar exploration and whose lecture at 2.30 p.m. will deal with ‘The Royal Navy and Polar Exploration’. He will be followed at 4.00 p.m. by Dr. Stephanie Barczewski, currently a professor of history in America and the author of several books including ‘Titanic – Night Remembered’. Her topic, ‘Antarctic Destinies – Scott, Shackleton and the Changing Face of Heroism’ will no doubt attract a lot of interest.

The Autumn School dinner will take place on Saturday night in the Clanard Court Hotel at 8.00 p.m. It promises to be an enjoyable evening as one of Ireland’s foremost traditional musicians Brian Hughes will be making an appearance and playing at the end of the meal.

Sunday morning will be graced with the final two lectures, the first starting at 10.30 a.m. when Huw Lewis-Jones will give an illustrated talk entitled ‘Freeze Frame – Historic Polar Photography’, followed at 12 noon by Mike Tarver. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Vice President of the Captain Scott Society, Tarver’s subject is ‘The SS Terra Nova (1884-1943) and Other Polar Exploration Ships of the Heroic age!’. The afternoon is given over to two films, ‘Foothold on Antarctica’ and ‘Antarctic Crossing’ which will be introduced by Peter Fuchs, son of Sir Vivian Fuchs who with Sir Edmund Hillary led the successful transantarctic expedition of 1958.

On Sunday evening at 9.00 p.m. Cliff Wedgebury, the Cork born musician and balladeer will present his one man show in music and in words on the life of Ernest Shackleton. This promises to be a musical evening which should appeal not only to polar enthusiasts but to a wider audience also.

All events take place in the Town Hall and further information as regards tickets, times and admission prices can be obtained at the Heritage Centre, Tel: (059) 8633075, Email: athyheritage@eircom.net.

The twelve page programme produced by the organizers of the weekend, which programme is freely available, is in itself a first class production with several superb photographs. It will probably be a collectors item at some time in the future. Make sure to pick up your free copy in the Heritage Centre while supplies are still available.

I forgot to mention the bus trip on Monday morning at 10.00 a.m., guided by John MacKenna whose biographical study of Shackleton published a few years ago in conjunction with Jonathan Shackleton, is regarded as one of the best books in recent years on the South Kildare born explorer. As in previous years this trip promises to be an enjoyable experience.

Finally a book appeared on the shelves of Dublin book shops during the week. Titled, ‘Ireland through the Looking Glass – Flann O’Brien, Myles na gCopaleen and Irish Cultural Debate’, the hardback published by Cork University Press was written by my daughter Carol. It was the result of several years of in depth research conducted into the writing of Flann O’Brien, alias Myles na gCopaleen, who during the 1950s wrote for the Nationalist and Leinster Times under the pseudonym George Nowall. It’s a wonderful achievement to see one’s work in print and Carol’s book prompted a family member to claim that it was ‘the first real book written by a Taaffe since the volumes produced by Fr. Denis Taaffe over 150 years ago’. So much for the ‘Eye on Athy’s Past’ volumes! However, congratulations to Carol Taaffe on a wonderful achievement which I can only aspire to emulate at some time in the future.

Florrie Pender - St. Josephs School

I had occasion to call to the girls primary school Scoil Mhicil Naofa some weeks ago to meet the newly appointed Principal. In keeping with the tradition long associated with the Mercy Sisters I was brought to the Staff Room for a cup of tea and a bun and who should I meet there but somebody I remember when I was a nipper attending St. Joseph's Boys School at Rathstewart. It was Mrs. Florence Pender still hale and hearty and of indeterminate age. Woe betide anyone who would be so foolish as to ask the question which must inevitably spring to mind.

There are few memories we retain of our very young days but of those still cherished inevitably our early school days figure prominently. I have snatches of memories relating to my three year stay in St. Joseph's Boys School where I was before transferring at seven years of age to the Christian Brothers School. Sr. Brendan, Mrs. Lucy Alcock and Mrs. Pender are prominent in my recollections of St. Joseph's School. Mrs. Alcock was regarded by all the young boys as a surrogate mother and how kindly she reciprocated the trust and friendship lavished on her by the youngsters. Sr. Brendan was of course everyone's vision of the kindly nun. She prepared us all for our First Communion with dextrous use of the scissors which hung from her belt. The skilful art of receiving communion on the tongue in those pre Vatican Two days was rehearsed and rehearsed by Sr. Brendan passing up the line of boys, each obediently sticking out his tongue to be touched with the scissors held in the hands of the diminutive Kerry nun.

Mrs. Pender who is apt to describe herself as being as well known as a "beggars ass" worked occasionally in the Convent and was to replace Lucy Alcock when the latter retired. Her father, Denis Prendergast, who lived in Mount Hawkins also worked for the nuns and drove their horse carriage. This was a feature of transport in Athy up to the 1950's as the nuns were brought to the Railway Station or travelled with the carriage curtains drawn to St. Vincent's Hospital. Florrie Prendergast married William Pender and in so doing changed her name as she herself laughing describes by cutting the "gast" out.

After almost 45 years of service she is still to be found in the Staff Room of Scoil Mhichil Naofa catering for the needs of today's teachers.

St. Joseph's School no longer stands at the side of what was the main entrance gate to the Convent of Mercy off the Rathstewart Road. Demolished in 1964 to make way for St. Michael's new Parish Church the entire area has changed beyond recognition.

Also demolished at that time was the large finely carved Celtic Cross which once stood in the grounds of St. Michael's Church and which was clearly visible as one passed on the Monasterevin Road. Captured many times in photographs as far back as the Lawrence photographs of the 1890's the Cross was erected to commemorate Fr. Thomas Greene, former Parish Curate who played a major part in raising funds locally for the construction of the Convent for the Sisters of Mercy. I wonder where that memorial Cross put up with the contributions of the local people can now be found? It should be restored as a fitting tribute to Fr. Greene and to the people of Athy who before, during and after the Great Famine made many sacrifices so that the town could have a Convent of Mercy.

However I digress, but maybe not. The physical changes in the area around the Parish Church as we knew it in the 1950's mirror the changes which time has wrought on the people we knew at that time. The youngsters who played in the school yard of St. Joseph's School are now scattered far and wide. Of the teachers only Sr. Finbar is still with us while Florrie Pender continues her involvement with the Sisters of Mercy junior school. Times have changed but some things never change.