School desk is brought home

PJ Lydon and Fr Martin Harte with the restored 50s desk.

A school bench which was used in the former Girls School from the 1950s has been returned to its place in what is now the Parish Centre, writes Brian Byrne.

Acquired about 30 years ago by PJ Lydon, he had intended to give it to his grandchildren, but in today's typical houses it would take up too much space.

"I had always intended to restore it, as it is made of oak and cast iron," he told the Diary this morning as he handed it in to Fr Martin Harte. "So I took it apart and gradually sanded and cleaned the sections. Then Damian Redmond put it all back together for me, courtesy of his employer Kevin Kelly."

The brass holders for the inkwells are still there, though without the sliding covers that those of us of a certain age would flick open and closed to annoy our teachers with the noise. 

"I'm also sourcing porcelain inkwells, courtesy of Brian Keyes, who had some put away when he retired as Principal at Scoil Bhride. I'm also told there is a school pen with them."

Again, those of us old enough to have sat in these desks will remember those pens, made of wood and with detachable nibs. To finish the look, maybe someone will have an old copy-book with the blue and red lines which helped us frame our early attempts at writing?

The desk is now located in the foyer of the Parish Centre, where it will no doubt bring back memories to many. Hopefully mostly happy as well as the inevitable occasional painful ones ...

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