Cork School of Commerce class reunite in city - 50 years on

Well, it certainly was a genuine throwback for a group of old friends who met up in Cork last week for the reunion of a lifetime.

You may recall Bob Roche told us some time back of the happy stint he had on a course for woodwork teachers at the then School of Comm’ back in the 1970s. He and a few others had the idea of organising a big get-together this year, some 50-plus years on, and the thing just mushroomed from there, culminating in a few happy days (and nights!) last week on Leeside. But let Bob tell his own story:

“First off - we were the graduating class of 1975 from the Educational Woodwork Teacher Training Course at the School of Commerce in Cork. Our class began in September, 1972. We were a group of lads from all over the country, most only straight from Leaving Cert, and green as the grass in the Golden Vale!

“We had a wonderful time in Cork and went on to have successful careers as woodwork teachers in various schools throughout the country.

“One member of our class, Neil MacDaid from Donegal, sadly did not make it through the course as he was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident down the Centre Park Road in December, 1974. Recently, Pat Ruthledge, from Mayo, now living in Kildare, posted a photo of Neil’s headstone on a WhatsApp group that a few of us were in, to remind us of his passing, and to realise that half a century had passed since this tragedy. Also, it was now 50 years since most of us had seen each other.

“Someone else commented that we should have a bit of a get-together while there were some of us still around!”

Bob continues: “With this in mind, myself and a few others got together back in February to toss a few ideas around. Bernard Dunne, Seamus MacIntyre, Sean Dolan, Michael Challoner, and I, became the ‘committee’. We agreed to get a reunion going in September, as holidays would be over and it would give us enough time to get things organised. We agreed on September 10/11.

“Right lads, what will we do? Well, to begin with we had to track everybody down! We knew of about ten out of the original 30, then there were the sad inevitable losses over the years - Neil of course, then Jim FitzMaurice, Pat Culliton, Michael Quirke. We were still missing a good few though. Somebody found Pat Sheehan (known as PaJo), a good Tipp’ man, now living in Borris, Carlow. He led us to two others. Things were looking up!

“Then, by chance, I discovered a nephew of one of the others was a teacher in the same school as my own nephew in Kerry. Hello, Pat! He led me to Richard Barrett and Mike Sullivan. Now we were on a roll. A few more made contact when they heard about our endeavours. John Gallagher in Donegal, led me to Howard Stewart. With others, we knew where they were from originally, so I wrote to the Parish Offices of a few of these places and again got lucky with a few more: Sean Lynch in Innishannon, Michael Long from Knocknagoshel, etc.”

Things were looking good, so the committee started to think about a formal ceremony in the old School (now College) of Commerce.

“Why not ask the Lord Mayor to welcome us back formally to our alma mater? (I think we had notions about our own importance!) The Lord Mayor’s secretary couldn’t have been more helpful. We got Clayton’s Hotel organised, and I wrote that piece for Throwback Thursday which gave us a great break because by pure chance Joe McCormack, one of our former teachers back in the ’70s, was scrolling through his iPad one evening when our group photo from 1972 popped up, in which he appeared! He contacted Jo Kerrigan who put him in touch with me. Through Joe, we got in touch with Dr Leonard O Connor, another of our former teachers.”

Bob explains: “The date arrived, and we descended on Cork from the four corners of Ireland, when the friendships and craic were quickly rekindled. On Tuesday night we went ‘out on the town’ and as the pints went down, the stories unfolded, accounts of where everyone was now and how long since retirement, etc. Stories of families and now grandchildren were exchanged and then our experiences of how we originally joined the course and our first visits to Cork back in the days.

The story of the Boat to Morrisons Island was recounted as a first experience of city life by one lad from the Kingdom, who prefers to remain anonymous. He says: “I first landed in Cork by train from Tralee and had navigated the job of changing trains in Mallow and getting onto a new train for Cork. I managed that with relief, since this was actually the first time that I had been outside Kerry. I didn’t have a reason to be out in the world until then!

“I got out in Kent Station and was amazed by the sight of all these buildings around me. There was a huge sign over the tunnel which read in big red letters ‘Cork Dry Gin’. How could you have a dry liquid? But maybe things were a bit different here in Cork. Anyhow, all I knew was I had to get to Morrisons Island to register for the course. The idea of having a school on an island seemed strange but maybe there was some logic to it too?

“I had no idea where I was going so I asked a few people on the street for directions to the boat for Morrisons Island. Whether it was my broad Kerry accent or what, no-one seemed to have any idea how to get to the boat. I eventually asked a bus driver, and he explained there was no need, that indeed I could walk there. ‘Is it that the tide must be out, that I can get there on foot?’ I asked. He decided that it would be best if he dropped me there instead!”

One of the topics recalled with pleasure by the reunited group was Teaching Practice, where each in turn was given a topic from one of their subjects and had to prepare a lesson for the class as you would do as a teacher. “The rest of us would act as the students in the class for the lesson,” says Bob, “and believe me, we didn’t spare the victim up at the front! One of the lads had been given the topic of lines. This is the very first exercise students in any mechanical drawing class would do.

“Anyway, the ‘teacher’ was going through the lesson, with notes, and lovely drawings in coloured chalk on the blackboard. As any good instructor would do, he was trying to engage with his pupils ( that was us chancers). Meanwhile, our Course Director, Mr Frank Carew, was taking suitable notes on his progress. The lad then asked his class, ‘Now boys, who can give me an example of a LINE?’ I put up my hand and said ‘Sir, are those the fellows that you would see in the Zoo?’ He has not forgiven me since and that was 53 years ago!”

Bob adds: “The tales got more exaggerated as the pints went down, but we still had the formalities of that 50th anniversary commemoration in the School of Commerce next day. We duly assembled there at 2.15 to be ready for the Lord Mayor. At this point, we had hidden away in the Principal’s office our two former teachers, Mr Joe McCormack and Dr Leonard O’Connor. I had to bring one other member of our class in on the subterfuge and with the assistance of Ms Helen Ryan, College Principal, we succeeded in our mission. The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress arrived on schedule and so began the formal reunion event.

“Everybody gathered round, and this was the signal to bring the two hitherto hidden gentlemen forward for introduction. The reaction from the lads was fantastic! They could not believe I had managed to get hold of both of them as we had known that other former teachers had passed away. We then remembered our former classmates who we had lost over the years. Bernard Dunne had researched details of their passing as some of those present had not even been aware of their deaths.

“Lord Mayor Dennehy made an excellent address to us, and also recounted his memories of one of his own former teachers, who was one of our group, Mike Sullivan, who now resides in Cork! The Lord Mayor unveiled a plaque for us, and his former teacher, Mike, presented him with a beautiful table lamp from a piece of wood from a storm-felled tree close to where the Lord Mayor lives in Cork.

“The College Principal then invited everybody to refreshments in the canteen, which was actually our woodwork room all those years ago. Helen and her staff really went the full distance in welcoming us back to the School of Comm’, as it will always be known to us.

“Before this, I had been rambling around some of our old haunts and found where a few of us had lived in a flat over a hairdresser’s at the corner of Douglas Street and White Street (now a signwriting business.) Across the street lived a family named Dillon where we had often spent time. Mr Dillon worked in Dunlop’s and I remember him as a very pleasant man who doted on his family. His daughter Marie, with her friend Liz, who worked in a shop on the quay across from the Holy Trinity Church, and a few of us lads, would go for long walks around the area in the evenings. We would descend on Mrs Dillon and the poor woman would insist on everyone having tea and whatever else was going.

“Well, coming back after so long, I was about to knock on the door, when the lady next door happened by. I asked if any of the Dillons were still living here and to my surprise she said, ‘I’m one of them’. She was the one and only Marie Dillon from all those years before! She remembered all of us but had never known where we had ended up. Marie is now an accomplished artist and showed me some of her latest pieces that she is getting ready for a fair. It was wonderful to make contact again and we have agreed we will meet up when I return to Cork.”

The reunion then moved on to a special dinner at the Clayton, and the next morning came the farewells and promises to meet up again soon. “What a reunion it was!” says Bob.

Bob, that was a marvellous event. Well done!

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