Sunday, November 24, 2013

Schools folklore project commemorated in Kilcullen

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It was a first in Ireland this afternoon when the 75th anniversary of the Irish Folklore Commission Schools Project was celebrated with a display of entries from two local schools, writes Brian Byrne.

Some 5,000 schools around Ireland took part in the project in 1937/38, when the Irish National Teachers Organisation joined with the Folklore Commission to try and have written down in their own words, what it was like for the children of the time to live then.

Copybooks inscribed in a range of faultless handwritings are now part of the national treasure of memories that came out of that initiative. The topics about which the children were instructed to research and write included local history and monuments, folktales and legends, riddles and proverbs, songs, customs and beliefs, games and pastimes, traditional work practices and crafts

And with a number of those who were children then present for the occasion in the Kilcullen Community Library, forgotten memories were revived.

Opening the event, aptly titled 'Blackboards and Chalk Dust', MC Gerry O'Donoghue said the commemoration wasn't being replicated in any other Library in Ireland, but he believed it was very important that the dedication of those who had taken part in the original initiative be remembered.

He commended Mary Orford who had organised the local project, helped by Nessa Dunlea of the Kilcullen Heritage Group and the cooperation of Kilcullen's Librarian Julie O'Donoghue.

The two schools in Kilcullen Parish which participated were Brannoxtown NS, and the Girls NS run by the Cross & Passion sisters in Kilcullen in the building that is now the Parish Centre. The former was organised by Miss Duffy, while Sr Carmel Therese managed the project in the Kilcullen school.

A Roll Call was read out of the senior pupils in the schools at the time of the Project. They were (Brannockstown) Thomas Brady, Nancy Keenan, Patsy Keenan, James Keogh, Nora Keogh, Betty Mackey, Brid Mackey, Rory Mackey, Mary Murphy, John O'Connor, Ned O'Connor, Mary O'Sullivan, and Molly Price; and (Kilcullen), Betty Bagnall, Kitty Bagnall, Nancy Baker, Una Bathe, Lilian Berney, Betty Byrne, Mary Byrne, Monica Byrne, Noreen Byrne, Vera Callan, Mona Christie, Sheila Christie, Anna Coleman, Gladys Conway, Patsy Dix, Betty Doyle, Tessie Doyle, Maureen Dunne, Claire Feeley, Kitty Ferguson, Jennie Ffrench, Rosaleen Lallaway, Hilda McCarthy, Carmel Maguire, Eva Nolan, Julia O'Connor, Nan O'Neill, Helen Power, Madge Quinn, Molly Smyth, Tessie Tynan, May Walshe, Augusta Whittle, and Birdie Whittle.

Copies of pages on which they had written their stories were presented to a number of the original writers (in top collage) — Betty Domican (formerly Byrne), Betty Kelly (Mackey) and Vera Farrell (Callan), and to family representatives of others (below), by Kildare's County Librarian, Marian Higgins.



Readings were given by Eileen Doyle and Nessa Dunlea, and Frankie Morrow sang his own composition in praise of the River Liffey.



The displays for both Kilcullen Girls National School and Brannockstown National School will be available to the public in Kilcullen Town Hall and Heritage Centre from tomorrow 24th November to 2nd December. The Heritage Centre is open from 10am to 2pm Monday to Friday.

All the material from the copy books is by kind permission of the National Folklore Collection and the exhibition is compiled with the assistance of Kildare Library and Arts Service. Photos were supplied by Mrs Dolly Lennon, Michael Murphy, Frank Morrow and Mrs Rita Nugent.