Island geography brought to life in Scoil Bhride

Gordon Bond and Scoil Bhride pupils.

When I was at school, writes Brian Byrne, Irish geography was a matter of learning by rote the names of the mountains, rivers, towns and islands of Ireland, and knowing roughly where to put them on an outline map.

Last week in Scoil Bhride was an exemplar of how it is much different now, when a past pupil came back to talk to today's students about his experiences on one of the iconic islands, the Great Blasket.

Gordon Bond and his girlfriend Leslie spent last summer managing a hostel and cafe on the island, and he was able to give a first hand account in his former school of what it was like to be, albeit temporarily, a Blasket islander.

Pic: Marguerite Power.

The visit also provided the opportunity for the Scoil Bhride pupils to research and prepare a project on The Blaskets, which provided an excellent backdrop to Gordon's presentation.

Pic: Marguerite Power.

His visit was facilitated by teacher Muiris Ó’Raoghaill, who comes from close by on the Kerry mainland. The islands were inhabited by a completely Irish-speaking population until 1953, when the State evacuated the remaining 22 residents because increasingly extreme weather was cutting them off from emergency services.

A recent advertisement for another couple to manage the hostel this year attracted thousands of applications, some from as far as Iran, Argentina, Finland, and Mexico.

Muiris Ó’Raoghaill and Gordon.

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