School memories by Mr. Michael O'Halloran

Prior to September, 1948 there were two schools in Tubber, located the building, which is now the Parish Hall. The boys' school and the girls' school each consisted of one room in which two teachers shared the teaching facilities. The principal of the boys' school was Mr. Joseph O'Reilly and his Junior Assistant Mistress was Mrs. Lena O'Reilly - no relation of the principal. The Principal of the girls' school was Mrs. Isabella Curley - appointed there on the 21st of November 1923 and her assistant teacher was Mrs. Mary Seaver - appointed on April 8th, 1929. The two schools were amalgamated into the new school in September, 1948, with Mr. O'Reilly being appointed as Principal and Mrs. Curley as Privileged Assistant because of her position in the Girls' School - with Mrs. Seaver Assistant and Mrs. O'Reilly as J.A.M. Mr. O'Reilly left Tubber School to become Principal of Rathwire N.S. Killucan in September, 1955 and he was replaced by Mr. Thorn Meade, who took up duty on September 5th, 1955. Mr. Meade subsequently left Tubber early in 1958 and the position of Principal was advertised by Very Rev. Dr. Hugh Dunne, who had been appointed Parish Priest of Tubber in 1955. I was appointed Principal as from April 1st, 1958. However, the Manager of Gortnamona N.S., Mount Bolus, in Kilcormac parish where I was Principal insisted that I stay until a replacement had been found and so I eventually took up duty in Tubber after the Whit weekend on May 27th, 1958.

I received a warm welcome from the three lady teachers - Mrs. Curley who had been appointed to the school before I was born; Mrs. Seaver who had been there since 1929 and Mrs. O'Reilly. It was the policy of the Department at that time that a lady teacher not be appointed Principal of a mixed school, hence the continued appointment of male Principals. It is also worthy of note that Mrs. Curley commuted each day from Athlone during all these years and collected Mrs. Seaver on her way to Tubber, and it can be recorded that she was always on time. One of the obligations of the Principal teacher in those days was to sign a document that he teach Catechism to the children in the church after the 11 o'clock children's Mass each Sunday. This obligation continued until the early 1970s when it petered out because of the falling attendance and lack of interest. One of the things that was particularly evident when I took over in 1958 was the fact that the concreted area of the school yard was divided by high tensile steel wire and chain link fencing on concrete posts to separate the boys' area of the yard from that of the girls. This fencing continued from the opening in the shelters to the dry outdoor toilets at the back of the playground. This fence had been pulled down in parts and was a hazard to all the children so one of my first tasks was to remove fencing and wire and concrete posts.

The Parish Priest and curate Fr. O'Farrell visited the school weekly and spoke to the children and heard confessions. The Parish Priest, Very Rev. Hugh Dunne, a keen horseman, often rode in and tapped the school window with his riding crop to deliver some message of school interest. In September, 1960, Mrs. Lena O'Reilly had to retire because of ill health and the numbers on rolls were not sufficient to warrant a replacement. In June 1962, Mrs. Mary Seaver retired and was replaced by Mrs. Elizabeth Egan, a teacher from the parish. In June 1963, Mrs. Isabella Curley retired and she was replaced by Miss Mary Conlon from Moate. Miss Conlon later married Mr. Dominic Burke - now a schools inspector in the Galway area - and she resigned from the school in June 1966. In September 1966, Mrs. Teresa Sheehan was appointed to Tubber school.

The Principal teacher occupied the school residence in the grounds of the old school. By present day standards, this building left much to be desired. There was no sewerage or water and the daily chore of carrying countless buckets of water from the pump is difficult to imagine today. Dr. Dunne was very kind and he sank wells at the school and at the residence. The water tower was built and for the first time in 1960 we had water and sewerage in the school and in the residence. I built my own home in Moate and moved there in 1963. The old residence fell into disrepair and was the scene of vandalism and much graffiti. Eventually it was used as base for the Tubber by-pass. The old school was developed by local labour under the direction of Fr. O'Farrell. The main dividing wall was removed and a parish hall was born. Before the advent of T.V. our local Dramatic Society was able to fill the hall for several shows. However, indoor football and similar activities caused the deterioration of the venue and eventually it was taken over by a parish group and the G.A.A. and it is today a fantastic facility for the parish.

In December 1971, Mrs. Elizabeth Egan was offered a teaching post in Tullamore and she left Tubber school on 21st December 1971. In order to allow time to advertise and appoint a replacement it was decided to appoint Mrs. Mary Teresa Buckley as temporary assistant from 10th Jan. 1972 to 30th June 1972. Miss Kathleen Murphy from Ennis, Co. Clare was then appointed assistant from 1st July 1972. However, Miss Murphy secured a position in her own parish in Co. Clare and did not return after the holidays. Miss Maura O'Halloran was then appointed temporary assistant from Sept. 4th '72 to 30th Sept. '72. Miss Eileen Heduan was appointed permanent teacher as from Oct. 1st 1972. She married Larry Dunican two weeks later. Mrs. Dunican taught in Tubber until Dec. 21st 1979. Mrs. Dunican was offered a position in Castletown-Geoghegan and so she left Tubber on the 21st Dec. 1979. The school was now reduced to two teachers, Mrs. Sheehan and myself, and it remained so until 1st Oct. 1982 when the numbers had increased sufficiently to appoint a third teacher again. On 1st Oct. 1982

Mrs. Moira Lynch took up duty as second assistant in the school. On 30th June 1988, Mrs Teresa Sheehan took early retirement. Mrs. Anne Made Minnock, having been placed on the local teachers' panel, from Clara Girls' N.S., replaced Mrs. Sheehan on 1st September 1988. On 30th June 1989, I retired after thirty-one years service in the school and the senior assistant in the school, Mrs. Moira Lynch, replaced me as Principal. The vacancy for a second assistant in the school was then advertised and was filled by Mrs. Regina Nolan who began teaching in Tubber on 1st Sept. 1989. Numbers gradually increased in the school and by September 1992 there was sufficient to appoint a third assistant. Mr. Arthur Geraghty filled this position. It is worthy of note that in the years 1958 to 1970 the average attendance was in the mid-eighties percent. This was at a time when most children had no option but to walk to school, many of them coming a distance of three miles or more. They were often cold and wet arriving at school with their bottles of tea or milk which were usually heated on the hearth in front of the fire. The children also had to provide the turf for the fire and it was often mid-morning before any semblance of heat was noticed in the rooms. Naturally, it was the duty of the teacher to blow the fire as well as educate the children. Then came free transport and cars and central heating and the average attendances soared to the nineties percent. And they say that teaching is stressful today!!

Michael O'Halloran, Retired Principal