Author Topic: St Malachy's College  (Read 282792 times)

Expat

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #60 on: May 21, 2010, 09:34:02 PM »
So NZ has got a claim to some good work done by Rewi!
I was the youngest of the family. Cormac went to the college around 1946, Peter around 1948 and Frank around 1950. I didn't get there until 1958. Both Peter and Frank were good alley players. When Frank went to Queens he took up squash and went on to play for Ulster and Ireland. Like I said before Peter took up the drink early and regrettably(?) I followed suit. Only Cormac and I are left and also our only sister.

Expat

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #61 on: May 21, 2010, 09:39:54 PM »
Frog's last name was Flaherty. Occasionally, he'd sneak into the Criterion for a drink after school.
Your brother Pete was proud of the fact that he went into the Criterion one day , stood alongside the Frog and ordered a drink. Frog didn't speak to hm and couldn't turn him in because he'd be turning himself in at the same time.

brianmckeever

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #62 on: May 22, 2010, 04:10:47 AM »
Frog's last name was Flaherty. Occasionally, he'd sneak into the Criterion for a drink after school.
Your brother Pete was proud of the fact that he went into the Criterion one day , stood alongside the Frog and ordered a drink. Frog didn't speak to hm and couldn't turn him in because he'd be turning himself in at the same time.
Lovely story Expat. It gave me a real buzz.
I had a trip home planned to see Pete in 2006 but had to change travel plans to attend his funeral.

Expat

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #63 on: May 22, 2010, 11:58:23 AM »
Thanks. The story was definitely about Flaherty and Pete. In thinking it over, I'm not 100% sure that Flaherty was the Frog.Flaherty might have been an English teacher.

brianmckeever

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #64 on: May 22, 2010, 12:47:44 PM »
You will enjoy this forum ,Expat, no matter where you're settled. I recently joined. The guys and girls give much to savour. The craic is great and best enjoyed with a bottle of beer at hand.


bealfeirste

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #65 on: May 22, 2010, 03:26:13 PM »
Fr0gs name was Coughlan. In the early 50s he nad a son attending the school. Yes you guessed it his nickman was Tadpole.

sj

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #66 on: May 22, 2010, 11:24:18 PM »
Fr0gs name was Coughlan. In the early 50s he nad a son attending the school. Yes you guessed it his nickman was Tadpole.

I am sure that the Frog whom I refere to was not Coughlan..  I came to the college in the late 50's.  I have found one old collegian but I can't recognise the name.  By the late 50's he was quite elderly and doesn't appear in the 63 collegian. ;)
I'm patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it ...

cannon

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #67 on: May 23, 2010, 03:29:01 PM »
I am sure that the Frog whom I refere to was not Coughlan..  I came to the college in the late 50's.  I have found one old collegian but I can't recognise the name.  By the late 50's he was quite elderly and doesn't appear in the 63 collegian. ;)
   sj,I remember the Frog ,Mr. Coghlan, teaching me French in the early 50's and he had a son attending the College then.   There are  1958 and 1963 "Staff photos" on the website, he's in both. :smile: :smile: :smile:

rayk

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #68 on: May 24, 2010, 12:04:44 AM »
I never knew Dirty Dick Dynan to lay into anyone 1958-1964, certainly Purdy did. He waited for me every morning at the head of the avenue, hiding in the door of the English school, to dole out two for being late. Walter did the same for a couple of years prior before he grew tired and delegated to Purdy. Purdy died of a brain tumour not too long after. (RIP).  Afternoons of my last year 1964 was spent mainly at the Plaza midday hop or roaming North Down in John Conway's old Standard Vanguard. He tried to drive the thing up to Napoleon's Nose.

Purdy didn't join the staff until 1963. Before that Beef McCorry used to wait at the top of the avenue for latecomers. In spite of all the canings we seemed to accept it and I'm not sure that it did us any harm (nor any good) Ray

stiofan

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #69 on: May 24, 2010, 01:38:01 AM »

In spite of all the canings we seemed to accept it and I'm not sure that it did us any harm (nor any good) Ray
If it didn't do us any harm, what was the point of it?!?! The problem with the canings was twofold.
 
The first was that it was a totally innappropriate way to deal with fairly intelligent kids. We'd all been through the 11 plus and could therefore be assumed to be reasonably intelligent and interested in learning. Instead of building on that, St Malachy's took education down to the level of brute force: encouragement was replaced by fear.
 
The second problem with the over-use of the cane was that it bred a culture of violence in the school. Many teachers appear to have assumed that there was no difference between caning and punching or slapping students. I was punched in the eye by one teacher and slapped across the head by two others (in one case, so hard that I was knocked off the bench in the changerooms near the gym). None of this was regarded as particularly noteworthy.

sj

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #70 on: May 24, 2010, 04:54:09 AM »
If it didn't do us any harm, what was the point of it?!?! The problem with the canings was twofold.
 
The first was that it was a totally innappropriate way to deal with fairly intelligent kids. We'd all been through the 11 plus and could therefore be assumed to be reasonably intelligent and interested in learning. Instead of building on that, St Malachy's took education down to the level of brute force: encouragement was replaced by fear.
 
The second problem with the over-use of the cane was that it bred a culture of violence in the school. Many teachers appear to have assumed that there was no difference between caning and punching or slapping students. I was punched in the eye by one teacher and slapped across the head by two others (in one case, so hard that I was knocked off the bench in the changerooms near the gym). None of this was regarded as particularly noteworthy.

The only teacher that I recall in the changing rooms was Mick.  I don't think that he carried a strap ...so did he use the inside of his hand to slap you or was it someone else.   I didn't have a problem with discipline if there was a reason for it.  In Latin I saw a teacher strap a boy because he got a verb wrong which is I think inappropiate behaviour for a teacher.  For not trying maybe but for making a mistake then that is inappropiate.  However we lived in different times.  Such times as when the b...specials raided the school looking for a 16yr old student.  The boy was a boarder and went over the back wall. ;)
I'm patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it ...

stiofan

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #71 on: May 24, 2010, 08:10:16 AM »
The only teacher that I recall in the changing rooms was Mick.  I don't think that he carried a strap ...so did he use the inside of his hand to slap you or was it someone else.   I didn't have a problem with discipline if there was a reason for it.  In Latin I saw a teacher strap a boy because he got a verb wrong which is I think inappropiate behaviour for a teacher.  For not trying maybe but for making a mistake then that is inappropiate.  However we lived in different times.  Such times as when the b...specials raided the school looking for a 16yr old student.  The boy was a boarder and went over the back wall. ;)
I had left my gym gear at home. I was given a set of sheets that had to be filled in for the annual athletics carnival. The teacher left the changing rooms for about 15 minutes. When he returned, he found that I had filled in the sheets incorrectly. He lifted his hand and walloped me.
 
On another occasion, a teacher was dictating to us. My bag was sitting on the desk in front of me. The teacher apparently (and wrongly) assumed that I was hiding behind the bag and wasn't taking down the dictation. Suddenly the bag was whipped away. I looked up to see his fist coming through the air. He caught me directly on the eye. That rendered me useless for the rest of the lesson, because I couldn't open the eye.
 
The last incident I recall was in a Latin class. The teacher had gone to the end of the row to do something. Naturally, we all looked around at what was happening. As he walked back up the row, he hit me on the head with his opened hand because I wasn't facing the front.
 
None of these had anything to do with discipline, and none warranted the treatment that was dished out. However, as I said earlier, my experience of St Malachy's was that physical punishment was just a way of life, and positive reinforcement was almost non-existent.

brianmckeever

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #72 on: May 24, 2010, 09:49:48 AM »

Purdy didn't join the staff until 1963. Before that Beef McCorry used to wait at the top of the avenue for latecomers. In spite of all the canings we seemed to accept it and I'm not sure that it did us any harm (nor any good) Ray
Walter Larkin definitely took his turn for a year or two waiting for latecomers between Beef McCorry and Purdy. It was just after he took over as President. Does anyone remember the time he gave us all a days holiday when the college won the McLarnon Cup and the day we were sent home as soon as we arrived when there was a snowstorm building up?

rayk

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #73 on: May 24, 2010, 08:57:34 PM »
It seems we all had different experiences. I was sometimes caned or "flippered" but was never hit or punched and there were certainly some good teachers. I'm not sure that to-day's politically correct system is any better. Ray

Helens Bay

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Re: St Malachy's College
« Reply #74 on: July 01, 2010, 12:08:37 PM »
was at St Mals 1954 to57.
The French teacher was named Mr.Sudway also known as Soapy.
Also taught by the great Dessie Wilson.
Don`t remember the school with great affection


 

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