Greetings everyone..... Since I am a newcomer to this site, It may take some time for me to navigate it. My name is tommy gibbons. My family emigrated to Canada in 1966. In February 1961, we took up residence in the shiny new matchbox neighbourbood of Santry. Our address was 23 Oldtown Road. Though the years I have returned many times. The transformation of this area is so extensive, my childhood memories border on surreality. It has me wondering if it was all a dream. For those of you who remember this period, I am sure you will understand.... One of my main recollections of the area, was the church and school on the Ballymun Road. St. Pappin's Church (now a nursing home) property that had buildings that served as schools. If you were facing the church from the road, the main school was on the left. On the left side of the school house, was the boys playground, and on the right was was the girls playground. The boys side had a shelter (I remember well the remnants of lunches tossed under the benches of the shelter. The wasps were in their glory). I don't recall the girls having a shelter. I assume the shelter side was the original playground, and the separation of the sexes came later. Perhaps it was only a boys or girls school only at some point.
On the right side of the church was the priests' house. Behind this house, was what could be described as a community hall. It had a dance floor with a stage at the front. This hall served as a school, with two classes back to back. The teachers of these classes were a husband and wife team; Dermot and Sorcha Sheehy. I remember Mr Sheehy very fondly. Sadly of course, they are no longer with us. Just before the school was abandoned for Our Lady of Victories (newly built), in 1964, a separate classroom was added between the hall and the priest's house. Other names of the faculty that I recall, were: Mrs Mulhall, Mrs Golden, and the principal ("head") Mr Dempsey (Demo). It's a vague memory now, but I seem to recall that there was an organ in Mrs Golden's classroom, which she used to play. Father Moloney was the resident priest. He performed the marriage service of my aunt Angela to David Moloney ( no relation to the good father). My aunt was a school teacher at Our Lady Of Victories.
Ah, those were the days in Santry. Since suburbia was encroaching upon the countryside, I had the best of both worlds. I could choose an alternate route to school. Sometimes I would navigate my way to school through the farmers fields. Most times, I would walk up Shanliss Road and turn right onto Ballymun Road. In that time, for those of you who remember, Ballymun road was a two lane roadway. When I turned onto Ballymun road to go to school, Albert's college was across the road (I used to collect chestnuts in the little woods on the college property). Continuing on up the road to school; It was farmland on both sides of the road. On the foot path side there was a built up berm and blackberry bushes which bordered the fields. I used these berms as a walkway also, although there were stretches of this berm that you couldn't walk. I remember the Easter processions up this road. Occasionally, movies were shown in the school hall. I recall looking up to the rafters to see the remnants of party balloons, and the nib pens used as darts that were stuck in the beams..... It was so long ago, I remember few of my classmates. I'm sorry to say I cannot recall any of the girls names. There is one fond memory of the girls, I will never forget though. It was as follows: On a sunny (Spring?) day Mr Sheehy was escorting the boys and girls from the playground back to the class in the hall. He must have been an audience for the girls earlier, for as we were walking along, he encouraged the girls to sing whatever song they had been making up. Well, all the girls broke into song. It was really moving. They were really good. You have to remember that back then, we were of an age before the showband explosion and the pop charts, which was just beginning to happen. This episode occurred 1963/64. If anyone out there remembers this, or would like to share a memory please contact me. To make it easier for me to receive your replies, you can contact me through the following email address: tommyg109@gmail.com. If anyone has photos of the area as it was back then, I would appreciate it. In the meantime I will navigate this site for that.... In one of the rooms of the schoolhouse on the left of the church, had a hole in the wooden wall. It reminded me of the stereotypical mouse hole featured in animated cartoons. Other memories include gorging on blackberries on the hedgerows along Ballymun Road. There were the cruel lads who tossed unfortunate classmates over the wall into beds of stinging nettles; the days of the short pants--Ow!!); Climbing the trees and searching the hedges beside the church to spy on nests of the blackbirds and thrushes; My mother taking me to see JFK's motorcade along the Swords road, a few months before he was assassinated. When I emigrated to Canada, leaving everything and all those that I loved, was a difficult period for me. In the early years of this century I accompanied the the legendary Irish entertainer Dermot O'Brien on his last tours of Ireland. My life has come full circle. Perhaps I wasn't able to be Ireland's next great footballer, but I revel in the pathways I have chosen since. There's a comparison to my emigration that I share with a classmate from Pappin's. His name was/is, Jimmy Rogan. His family had returned from the US. I think he was born there and returned when he was about seven years old. He was a brash and extroverted young fellow. It took a while before he fit in. I had the same experience after my emigration, so I understood how he felt. I recall my sympathy towards him when he first arrived. One more memory before I go (I could go on..). Mr Sheehy used to encourage the learning of Irish. In the infancy of RTE there was a short program associated with this in mind. It featured Dathi Lacha. Mr Sheehy made a competition for the children, to see which one would remember the lesson best. As an incentive the winner would receive a thruppenny bit or a sixpence. In case of a tie, the contestants had to choose a number between zero and ten. With racing hearts we would await to see the winning number revealed on the opposite side of the chalkboard. Funny, I can remember a couple of occasions when newcomer Jimmy Rogan was competing against me in these tie breakers. Slain to all. Hope to hear from "ye"...... I have a lot of fun with the auld tongue. Here is one of my concoctions for signing off:
Saol se go hiontach ar fad
tommy...
On the right side of the church was the priests' house. Behind this house, was what could be described as a community hall. It had a dance floor with a stage at the front. This hall served as a school, with two classes back to back. The teachers of these classes were a husband and wife team; Dermot and Sorcha Sheehy. I remember Mr Sheehy very fondly. Sadly of course, they are no longer with us. Just before the school was abandoned for Our Lady of Victories (newly built), in 1964, a separate classroom was added between the hall and the priest's house. Other names of the faculty that I recall, were: Mrs Mulhall, Mrs Golden, and the principal ("head") Mr Dempsey (Demo). It's a vague memory now, but I seem to recall that there was an organ in Mrs Golden's classroom, which she used to play. Father Moloney was the resident priest. He performed the marriage service of my aunt Angela to David Moloney ( no relation to the good father). My aunt was a school teacher at Our Lady Of Victories.
Ah, those were the days in Santry. Since suburbia was encroaching upon the countryside, I had the best of both worlds. I could choose an alternate route to school. Sometimes I would navigate my way to school through the farmers fields. Most times, I would walk up Shanliss Road and turn right onto Ballymun Road. In that time, for those of you who remember, Ballymun road was a two lane roadway. When I turned onto Ballymun road to go to school, Albert's college was across the road (I used to collect chestnuts in the little woods on the college property). Continuing on up the road to school; It was farmland on both sides of the road. On the foot path side there was a built up berm and blackberry bushes which bordered the fields. I used these berms as a walkway also, although there were stretches of this berm that you couldn't walk. I remember the Easter processions up this road. Occasionally, movies were shown in the school hall. I recall looking up to the rafters to see the remnants of party balloons, and the nib pens used as darts that were stuck in the beams..... It was so long ago, I remember few of my classmates. I'm sorry to say I cannot recall any of the girls names. There is one fond memory of the girls, I will never forget though. It was as follows: On a sunny (Spring?) day Mr Sheehy was escorting the boys and girls from the playground back to the class in the hall. He must have been an audience for the girls earlier, for as we were walking along, he encouraged the girls to sing whatever song they had been making up. Well, all the girls broke into song. It was really moving. They were really good. You have to remember that back then, we were of an age before the showband explosion and the pop charts, which was just beginning to happen. This episode occurred 1963/64. If anyone out there remembers this, or would like to share a memory please contact me. To make it easier for me to receive your replies, you can contact me through the following email address: tommyg109@gmail.com. If anyone has photos of the area as it was back then, I would appreciate it. In the meantime I will navigate this site for that.... In one of the rooms of the schoolhouse on the left of the church, had a hole in the wooden wall. It reminded me of the stereotypical mouse hole featured in animated cartoons. Other memories include gorging on blackberries on the hedgerows along Ballymun Road. There were the cruel lads who tossed unfortunate classmates over the wall into beds of stinging nettles; the days of the short pants--Ow!!); Climbing the trees and searching the hedges beside the church to spy on nests of the blackbirds and thrushes; My mother taking me to see JFK's motorcade along the Swords road, a few months before he was assassinated. When I emigrated to Canada, leaving everything and all those that I loved, was a difficult period for me. In the early years of this century I accompanied the the legendary Irish entertainer Dermot O'Brien on his last tours of Ireland. My life has come full circle. Perhaps I wasn't able to be Ireland's next great footballer, but I revel in the pathways I have chosen since. There's a comparison to my emigration that I share with a classmate from Pappin's. His name was/is, Jimmy Rogan. His family had returned from the US. I think he was born there and returned when he was about seven years old. He was a brash and extroverted young fellow. It took a while before he fit in. I had the same experience after my emigration, so I understood how he felt. I recall my sympathy towards him when he first arrived. One more memory before I go (I could go on..). Mr Sheehy used to encourage the learning of Irish. In the infancy of RTE there was a short program associated with this in mind. It featured Dathi Lacha. Mr Sheehy made a competition for the children, to see which one would remember the lesson best. As an incentive the winner would receive a thruppenny bit or a sixpence. In case of a tie, the contestants had to choose a number between zero and ten. With racing hearts we would await to see the winning number revealed on the opposite side of the chalkboard. Funny, I can remember a couple of occasions when newcomer Jimmy Rogan was competing against me in these tie breakers. Slain to all. Hope to hear from "ye"...... I have a lot of fun with the auld tongue. Here is one of my concoctions for signing off:
Saol se go hiontach ar fad
tommy...
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