Memories of walking barefoot at Laois school's 100th anniversary

The Laois sun kindly shone on participants in a momentous outdoor school reunion held recently near the Slieve Bloom mountains.

100 years since the old Derrylamogue National School near Mountmellick first opened its doors, some of its first pupils were among those who gathered to mark its centenary last June.

They included Sheila Bennett aged in her 90s, Paddy Grehan aged 90, Joe Dunne, 88 and Paddy Dooley, 86.

They delighted everyone with their reminisces of the teaching staff and the conditions, recalling how they walked to school sometimes barefoot on summer days, right up to the 1950s.

Paddy Grehan and Joe Dunne informed the gathering that their fathers had attended the very first school back in the 1850s, which was they say built in a hollow behind the 100 year old building.

They recalled that the schoolmaster was a Mr Flaherty.

With seating provided by the local Meals on Wheels, the group sat in the playground of the newest Derrylamogue School, where they could look across the road at their former school, now sadly fallen to disrepair.

The loveliest of home baking was kindly provided by Mary McLoughlin, with sincere thanks extended to her by all who attended.

Ronnie Ridgeway had helped to organise the reunion, with Joe Bennett, Lisa Delaney, Charlie Whyte and Mary McLoughlin.

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"The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all present and will be remembered as a social highlight of 2023," he said.

Maurette Maher, the retired principal of the new Derrylamogue School building, was a special guest.

She was warmly welcomed, and praised as having been part of a "teaching legacy" that began in the mid 1800s in Derrylamogue, Rosenallis. It continues to the present day, with some 85 boys and girls taught in the bright and spacious present school building.