Memories of Cullane School
I look back with genuine fondness on my days in Cullane School, much to my childrens puzzlement. The school consisted of a large hallway with two equal sized rooms off it. The hallway had red terracotta tiles and pale green walls. It was used as a cloakroom. There were two rows of huge pegs along the outer three walls. There was a huge round wire basket in the corner for lunch papers etc. The odd mouse or rat often took up residence here. When full, two senior boys would empty and burn the contents.
The two classrooms had wooden floors and the walls were wainscoted to about five feet and painted dark green. The rest of the walls, which were very high, were painted pale green. Each room had four long, high, Georgian style windows painted white, two at the front and two at the back. They gave adequate lighting. Each room had four rows of desks separated by an aisle. There were maps and vocabulary and grammar charts on the walls. There was also a press or cófra, a heavy table and chair in both rooms, for the Master and Mistress.
Two turf fires, one in each classroom, gave a totally inadequate form of heat for such large rooms, especially in winter. The turf was provided by the families of scholars. Loads of turf were stored in a turf shed at the back of the school in the boys playground. This was kept locked.
Toilet facilities were basic to say the least. Two dry toilets, concrete roofless structures, adorned each playground. It consisted of a wooden seat with a hole in the centre, covering a hole in the ground. The cleaning of these toilets was the happy lot of visiting tinkers once or twice a year for a pittance. If the tinkers didnt turn up, two senior boys got the unenviable task.
There was a separate boys school and a girls school until 1923, when they were amalgamated. The girls were taught by a female teacher in the room on the Kilknock side. The boys were taught by the Master in the room on the Ballindine side. After 1923 the boy's school became the Senior classroom and the girls school became the Junior classroom. Despite being mixed in the classroom in 1923, the sexes were kept separate in the playground until within a few years of its closure in 1971. A six-foot wall divided the playgrounds at the back of the school. The boys had the larger playground on the Kilknock side. The girls had the one on the Ballindine side.
When the school closed, the remaining children on the roll went to Ballindine School.
I remember vividly my first day there! I was just four years old. I took my sister Noras hand and with my older brother Michael headed off with my small bag on my back. Half a mile up the road, at Cannys Corner we joined up with Ronnie, Marion and Kathleen Canny. A further half a mile up the road and Marian and Kathleen Corless joined our troupe. The latter also started school on that day and she has remained a life long friend. We continued the last mile together and we were soon at the huge green and white gates of the school. I was brought into the Junior Classroom and was introduced to Miss Eileen Concannon and Mr. James Curran. I was in awe of both of them and sat timid as a mouse at my desk. At break, I stuck close to my new friend and my sister Nora as the senior boys and girls seemed to tower above me.
The curriculum hadnt changed since my mothers time (Celia Daly). The three rs, with History & Geography in the senior classes, we also had Catechism. We had needlework at two oclock (two days a week). We did samples of basic stitches, sewing & knitting, which were carefully sewn into sample books.
For lunch, I had home-made bread and a bottle of milk. Skipping, Tag, One-two-three red light, Think of a colour, Baseball / Rounders were some of the games we played. The playgrounds were still separate but the senior girls were sometimes allowed into the sanctum of the boys playground for the odd game of football or soccer or tug-o-war.
The boys sometimes came into the girls playgound for the "dare to jump" game. This involved climbing onto the top of the shelter and jumping into Keanes field "The Farm." Whoever jumped the farthest won. Some chickened out, and had to be helped down. Miraculously, nobody broke any bones or was killed during these jumps. There was always someone on the lookout in case the Master came out to call "isteach".
Turf fires were still the form of heating. I remember on winter mornings spending 5 - 10 minutes jumping and clapping my hands at the back of the room to warm up before class.
We walked to and from school, the two miles every day, summer and winter. We wore sandals in the summer and boots or wellies in the winter.
Somebody in the troupe usually had a few pence for Ann Keanes shop on the way home from school. Silver mints or caned sweets wrapped in a newspaper cone were the highlight of the day. These were shared among the group. Black tongues from the bulls eyes or blue fingertips from the silver mint papers gave us away every time.
Cullane School may not have been high tech or modern but its dedicated teachers kindled in me a love of learning and interest in education, which remains with me to this very day.
I endeavour to pass this hunger for knowledge and love of learning to my own children much to their chagrin.
It may sound corny, but I can truthfully say, my days in Cullane School were the happiest days of my life.
By Evelyn Mitchell, Bawnmore, formerly Evelyn Roche, Boleyboy, who attended Cullane School from 1961-69.
Taken from the booklet published on the occasion of Cullane School Past Pupils Reunion on 3rd August, 01.
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