Scoil na gCruach 1907-1971

MY YEAR AT CROAGHS SCHOOL (1959/60) (Anne Alexander Mc Loone) Although my parents were fairly well placed as principals of primary schools my rearing fell somewhere between "gentle" and "bare hands". "Gentle" ceased when our housekeeper Molly Mc Ginley left to get married and a replacement could not be found. So the cow was sold, the door was locked and I started school at three and a half. My mother was no foo l and my Irish was not up to scratch for an all-Irish boarding school so I was sent to Croaghs school for a year when I was twe lve. Mrs Kelly was in charge and her reputation as a diligent teacher among the teaching fraternity was excellent. Better than that she was a nice person and I cannot recall any corporal punishment or as the Ch ristian Brothers described it the "modh dfreach" being used in the Croaghs though the slaps were common enough in other schools at the time. The kindly Mrs J ohn Boyle in Garvin housed me well and I was picked up after little Aidan Gallagher every morning and Mrs Kelly negotiated the potholes, humps and bends of Commeen, Ballinaman and Falgarrow before turning into a meaner, rougher track etched in to the rough heathery hillside. On the far side the Blue Stacks towered over the river that seemed to sink into the valley. Over half of the pupils were on board at this stage and a few bright faces waited at the schooldoor. 83