We
went to visit Mrs. Blake in the hospital to ask her what life was like when she
was young. Mrs. Blake was born on the 20th of August in 1906 in the
Barradoes. Mrs. Blake is our oldest living past pupil. She is 93 years old. She
was an only child. She started school when she was about nine. When she was
going to school she had to walk four miles over the Mountains in her bare feet.
On her way to school she stopped in a near by house which was owned by the
Larkins. 
Her teachers were Mr. Barry, Miss Hyland and Miss Forrester. Miss Hyland who
usually wore a blue dress with a red rose. The school had no fire so it was
always cold. They used to put the master’s stick in a rat hole in the floor
where he couldn’t find it. At lunch time one person would be send to the shop.
They
brought their old copies to the shop so that she could roll the copies up like a
cone and she would fill them with sweets. They would get half a lunch with half
a penny. In school she learned a little Irish, Reading, Writing, Sums, Catechism
and the catec
hism
meaning. They played skipping and Jack stones (you had to through up 5 stones
and see how many you could catch on the back of your hand)
Thank you Mrs. Blake
By Jenny and Brigid