Last year marked the 50th Anniversary of four young pioneering women leaving Tuam to cycle some 17 miles into Glenamaddy bringing Second Level education to the town. It began in “The Convent” and expanded into Coláiste Seosaimh (still affectionately known as The Convent). Little could Sr. Bonaventure, Sr. Francis, Sr. Regina and Sr. Bernadine imagine that half a century later their legacy would be marked and remembered in such spectacular fashion with the construction of the new Glenamaddy Community School. We give thanks to the Sisters of Mercy whose dedication to serving our community, through education, has brought countless benefits to thousands of students.
Mr. Joe Coy, Head of English in the school, recorded his thoughts early in 2009, both joyous and poignant, on five decades of post primary education in the town:
For over 50 years the Old School has been at the centre of many peoples’ lives in Glenamaddy and northeast Galway. The campus has grown and expanded over that time. The original Parochial House was added to on several occasions over the decades. The final result was a mix of structures with little architectural merit unlike our New School that has been designed by an architectural team and will be full of light colour and form. Yet for all that, the Old School was a special place.
The Old School began as a Secondary School one autumn day in 1959 when four Mercy Sisters came from Tuam to bring second level education to this part of the county. Looking at the photos now, covered from head to toe in their black and white habits, how different the world was then. Who would have thought that 50 years later the Mercy Sisters would go through such changes or that the Church they had served so faithfully would be in such a parlous state.
Shakespeare was very fond of the idea that the world was really a stage and that men and women were actors who played their parts before moving on. In that sense the Old School was the theatre of our lives. Every September another bunch of bright, young Actors would emerge from the surrounding countryside and enter the Old School stage resplendent in their new, green and lilac costumes and full of hopes and dreams.
They came in awe of the sprawling arena with its countless doors, multiple rooms, endless corridors and secret places. They “strutted and fretted their hour upon the stage”. The poseurs stood out, determined to make their mark. The shy ones watched from the wings. Some liked to be centre stage while others preferred supporting roles. Even in those days Declan Ganley showed a liking for the spotlight, Brendan Grehan refined the debating skills that would serve him so well while Albert Conneely smiled a lot.
The Actors enjoyed their triumphs and suffered their little tragedies. All the genres were catered for: comedies, histories, romances, farces and melodramas. Some Actors played heroic roles. Others preferred to be clowns. Many remained silent observers or had walk-on parts. Some displayed great athletic ability. Others preferred to focus on the script. There were times of tension and suspense, times of high glee and low humour, times of success and failure, times when the sun shone brightly and days when the cloud seldom lifted.
And then there were the awful dark days when some of the Actors made unexpected exits, snatched by accidents or devastated by disease. Impetuous Johnny Reilly who cycled in front of an on-coming car. Courageous Kelly McHugh who fought her leukaemia to the end. Innocent Grainne Mullins who didn’t wake for her sister one morning. Witty Gertie Higgins who quietly slipped away in her final year. Shy Margaret Mitchell whose role ended in the fume filled car with her boyfriend on a frosty night. Quiet Rory Dowd who failed to survive an operation. Easy-going Shane Gilmore who caught us all by surprise. And the brightest of them all, the incomparable Edmund Lyons. They left and yet they never left – they took on a permanence in our Theatre – forever young – unlike the rest of the Actors who moved on. They stayed behind – the spirit of the place – forever young.
The other major people in our Theatre were the Directors and Stagehands, the permanent crew who orchestrated the performances. They, too, played their part in the casual comedy and directed their little dramas in scientific lore, strange languages, arts and crafts and historical pageants. They, too, came and went over the years but live on in the memories of those they shared the stage with – Irene Reilly, Mike Kelly, Anne Lohan, Patricia O’Halloran, Imelda Cunnane, Lil Jenkinson, Al Smith, Seamus Walsh, Pat O’Boyle, Sisters Vianney, Maire, Ursula, Sile, Assumpta...the names go on and on.
Shakespeare, wise man that he was, knew that the Old School, like all great Theatres would pass away. He knew that the wreckers would arrive, that the roof would come down and the walls cave in and that all would return to dust. So he left us the final epitaph:
Our revels now are ended
These our actors were all spirits and are melted
Into air, into thin air
And like the baseless fabric of this vision
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself
Yea all which it inhabit, shall dissolve
And like this unsubstantial pageant faded
Leave not a rack behind.
We are such stuff as dreams are made of
And our little life is rounded with a sleep.
