St Thomas' School - Whiterock Road

[Belle Fast]

Brilliant forum here guys. Myself and my two brothers went to St Thomas' and we were from Whiterock Gardens. Unbelievable memories reading through these posts. Its no surprise that the lads that were in your class remain your friends for life even though as we all grow we move away from each other. Gerry McMahon is now the school principal of the amalgamated schools and what a job he's done done there,  'wee jimmy'McDermott is still there, 'Drummer' the science technician also.  Most of my memories were knocking about with 'big rusty'cosgrove, the 'twin magees' Whack McGettigan, Ginger Delaney, not to forget my neighbours in the 'Rock Noel 'Wally' Wallace and John 'Bap' McKeever who I still see.
Teachers wise I couldn't say a bad word about Mr Teague, 'Sausage' Patsy Hennessy and one of the main reasons I came out of school with any qualifications Patsy O'Hagan.  The worst was probably Mr Boyle the English teacher who I detest to this day - funny how teachers affect you in the early stages of your life, thank God for the good ones i've mentioned before Boyle.

Anybody know these people above? I would be really keen to hear from you in this forum!

Whelo

Hello & welcome to the forum SteWhe it's great when you get a connection with your school days I was a very young  ::)dinner lady in '97 at St Toms I worked with Eileen McCabe, another lady was called Theresa Butler from Springhill can't remember the rest.

[SteWhe]

The lads are from the Whiterock, 'Murph and New Barnsley. I can't remember a young dinner lady but I remember Mrs Clarke from Ballymurphy Rd and she was brilliant. Did you give extra dessert to the good looking ones? We never got any- wonder why? LOL

[AL CAPONE]

Hi Whelo you know me . Do you still think you can play footie?

Al i see Gerry in the Glenowen mate.

[SteWhe]

I dont know anybody called Al Capone who supports Liverpool!! LOL Never could play football bluffed my way for years!! Who's this? A St Thomas' old boy?
Will see Gerry today i'm heading up to to Corpus for a meeting I'll tell him you were asking for him.

Whelo

[AL CAPONE]

No mate St Marys man i am.

[bt12]

no the flynns lived at no 7 because we lived in no 16 the Trainors and they lived in the odd numbered side?

yep your right was thinking even odd instead of even numbers , when i was a kid collins would have lived at number 8

[bt12]

Have to get a thread on this .. two of Ireland's greatest writers Michael McLaverty and Seamus Heaney were on the staff and the schhool played a massive part in the social fabric of the Murph and further afield etc... any memories?

Dont forget the go lucky four they where num one in the european charts for 2 weeks with their song "up went nelson " the beeb wouldnt play it , remember tich, eamon mcgirr , and carlin the art teacher in the group but not the fourth one ? mclaverty was just before my time sammy mckeown was head by then , some of the names i remember are , hector mcdonald , jim gallagher (now a dundalk counciller) elvis or aka dolly mccann music , casey and greenwood for p.t , casey was a mess always drunk !
jim brannigan library and religion , yrs later jim swears i got my slap revenge with the prices i charged him for repairing his tv and videos lol !mr oloan , a thug and a bully a man of no merit ill  say no more ! mr thornton a fine teacher ,there was one teacher who held a place in my heart a mr Sloan he came to the school with a canadian accent and always started the lesson with this a small sermon , sample sermon " you are ballymurphy scum the world knows you are scum ive told people in canada you are scum " nice guy nickname bonzo , a visit from some parents put paid to that nonsense .

[bt12]

hi i was at st toms and went back as a workshop technician under big al oloan in the woodwork rooms

i remember big al oloan very well , on my first day at the school we where lined up in the yard in class rows as i had just left primary school i was a bit nervous after listening to weeks of horror stories about newboys getting heads pushed down bogs etc , (none of which was true glad to say) . now apparently i wasnt standing as straight in the line as i should have because suddenly i felt a blasting pain and seen what looked like orange light , when i got my senses back i was being "helped " up a staircase to what is the staff room where i was given a plaster for my forehead where it slammed into the ground and water with an asprin , this was followed by a lecture of why i should just put this down to an accident if i wanted an easy time in st toms , i didnt know what had happened until later that day when some friends told me that oloan came up from behind me and punched me as hard as he could on the side of the head , next day i was moved to a new class this class had mr thornton for woodwork the old one had oloan .

[Mageeka]

Is it Gerard Kelly who paints murals. If so he`s my cousin. Mother Harriet Kelly/Carson married 2 Mickey Kelly. Mickey was well known down the Falls. Worked for McGuinness bookies in Clonard St as a marker up.Not many of them about today. Not sure about Happy Donnelly but do know a Mickey Donnelly

Probably the wrong kellys
Gerry had a young brother called Robert

[dingadong04]

just joined yer great wee forum after reading as a guest . I went to St Toms and remember most of them teechers Big Al punched me, Bulldog Farry pulled me by the ear, Da Brown made me stand in a bin for two periods, Da Clifford hit me with a cane, Kelly ( geography) pulled me by the nipple from assembly up to room 11 then slapped me... then there were the gooduns Charlie carson  (irish )who is a great musician , wee dolly Mcann , Da Green PE, Bobby McDade,  Fergy Ohare, Patsy , Mrs Shannon , wee Dan Mcallister, Anthony Mcelkerney RK.who saved me from french lessons and taught me how to play a guitar ( i still make a living out of it today) , I loved st Toms especially when i was on the beak.lol .. but ye have ta give credit to those teachers that cared cos we were no angels in that school.  wee note to stewhe i was telling wack that ye give him a wee mention , ginger lives in America now and  Rusty is in the black hacks and still as miserable as ever ..lol well thanks for letting me take part

all the best fir nigh

[missymoo]

my daddy was a pupil in st.thomas's, he started in the late fifties, his name was patrick (patsy) mcveigh.rip. he lived in roden street. his brothers are called, eddie, billy, and gerard. does anyone remember him??

[Mageeka]

my daddy was a pupil in st.thomas's, he started in the late fifties, his name was patrick (patsy) mcveigh.rip. he lived in roden street. his brothers are called, eddie, billy, and gerard. does anyone remember him??

Missy
Was he a milkman. later in life ?

[stow]

Missy
Was he a milkman. later in life ?

Patsy was my uncle mageeka im near sure he'd worked in a bookies
              but he always did the desk at the taxi depots he was so good at his
              job he'd have finished his shift at one depot & then went straight to
              another. he was a big gentleman very well regarded. he was only 46 
              when he passed away.

[stow]

Has anyone got any photo's of any of the kids that went
to St Thomas' it would be lovely to see some
c'mon dig them out & start posting them.

[lenzo]

Hi all.I went to St Thomas in 79-84.Pat Copeland (aka Lennon ) from ballymurphy road.I remember Boyle.I hated him.lol.All i remember about him is he always pulled my locks.Can still feel it to this day.lol