Letter to the editor ‘The Town I love So Well’

try to hit the pupil accurately, because glass didn’t grow on trees!

“When the Principal left the room, this teacher repeated in a mocking tone what his superior had said, and we all laughed, including the lad the duster had been aimed at. Ah, those were funny times, boy.

As like the summer so far, the August Bank holiday passed us by as if we were in the latter stages of Autumn. However, many families still tried to get away for a little together time before the children head back to school. Kilkenny is sold as thee place to have a family vacation and for the Irish Diaspora living abroad to return home and while here, visit Kilkenny, The Medieval Capital of Ireland.

As a native, I value what our city has to offer to all who visit. Unfortunately, if I was one of those families that decided to come here for the August bank holiday, after my experience with my grandson on Saturday, I am sorry to say I’d have second thoughts about returning.

great persuader it was.

“Some teachers didn’t bother with the canes or leathers. They used their fists. If you answered a question wrong, you got a backhand slap across the face or a thump from behind. One teacher loved to throw dusters at pupils who he spotted misbehaving or who weren’t making progress. He just grabbed the duster and flung it at the lad.

“The rest of us would duck to avoid it. If the duster missed its intended target and hit the wrong pupil, this teacher assured the struck pupil that he would credit the blow to him when his own turn for punishment came.

“I’ll never forget the day he broke a window in the classroom with a duster when he missed a pupil.

The Principal heard the glass breaking and strode into the classroom. He demanded to know what happened. When the teacher explained, the Principal asked him to be more careful in future and to please

“They slapped you for anything, or for nothing. Some days were worse than others. There was one teacher who smoked heavily. His suit was permanently stained with tobacco marks. He was fine while he was smoking, but we all suffered when he gave up the fags for lent. He went crazy in the classroom…with the cane, the leather, and his fists.

“One day, during lent, when most us had failed a sums test, he caught a big bundle of books and flung them at us with all his might. Then he picked up a leather with one hand and a bamboo rod with the other and he ran down between the desks, striking to the right and to the left like a cavalryman at the Charge of the Light Brigade.

“We had to dive for cover. Less than an hour before this, he’d been talking calmly about the danger of war breaking out in Europe. He had drawn some of the flags of the world with chalk on the blackboard. But to us the classroom was a daily war zone...”

Callan CBS pupils 1939

Back row: Lar Hackett, Jim Hackett, John Clancy, Liam Egan, M. Walker, M. Bergin, -Drew. Joe Dunne.

Third Row: Ned Woodgate, Billy Burke, Larry Guildfoyle, Milo Foley, Ned Condon, Sean Dooley, Billy Hackett, Danny Roche.

Second Row: Larry Holden, Marty Keating, Sean Holden, Jim Bolger, J. Fitzpatrick, J. Byrne, Frank Fennelly, T. Noonan, Dick Power, J. O’ Neill, S. Shaughnessy.

Front Row: D. O’ Grady, P. Byrne, P. Purcell, C. Sullivan, -Burke, Billy Sullivan, M. Lynch, Sean Holden, Sean O’ Brien.

Christmas, God forgive me for bringing it up! is only 20 weeks away. When we reach the August bank Holiday it is the signal for me to lodge €10 per week to my Credit Union Account. This helps to have a stress-free festive season with my small savings giving me a helpful hand for a few small presents for the grandchild and it looks like maybe a great grandchild, please God. Why the Credit Union? To be honest, it opens Saturday, but more importantly it is nice to talk to a teller and not a machine! I like the personal touch and the smiling welcome you get when lodging your few euros.

Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the afternoon on our High Street. I am a blue badge holder, and the two spaces outside the Credit Union are great to have access to and let’s hope they will remain for my life time anyway. However, Saturday saw a spanking new SUV, non-badge holder, parked illegally in the disability car parking space. Now I must mention, the driver was in the SUV and had the hazard warning lights on, which for some unknown reason people think that makes it okay, or makes their car invisible. Now I have to be truthful, as that was the way my parents brought me up, I parked across the road in the Taxi Rank or loading bay, and now the second chapter of my ‘Nightmare on High Street’

I held my grandson’s hand and went to cross the street at the public crossing at Market Cross. It was like running the gauntlet. Young teenagers, boys and girls I may add, racing up and down the street not just on foot but, those crazy and very dangerous electric scooters. Visiting Families, who had to duck, jump and at times run across to get to the far side of Kilkenny’s Medieval Mile, and That wasn’t all that was the brazen carry on of these Young Adults, one can only call THUGS

There was the guys on the bikes racing up the High street with, and against the traffic and when a motorist had to brake suddenly and hit the car horn, got the two fingers and the roars of F.. Off effin followed by the must disgusting word of the English language that begins with a ‘C’ and ends two letters later with a ‘T’, and then the running brigade following the scooters and bikes as they went from one end of our main artery, for all our tourists to the city.

Now some will ask where are the Gardai? Traffic Wardens? My question is where are these Terrorists parents? Yes Terrorists! They were terrorising the people and visitors of Kilkenny some with young children. As we push forward to making Kilkenny a friendly, walking and bicycle haven, pedestrianised streets and bicycle lanes, ah how beautiful and inviting it sounds. Well not if we do not eliminate the Teenagers who now see High street as their playground for the summer. Electric Scooters reaching dangerous speeds, the humble push bike as it races against the oncoming traffic. A definite recipe for disaster with the owner that needs to be educated on the rules of the road and the basic manners of being a human being.

Now next Saturday, I will unfortunately have to make the same trip to the Credit Union. Imagine, I am a Kilkenny native that loves my city and now I dread going on to the High street. If you were a tourist that decided to venture to Kilkenny last weekend, did you feel safe? or more importantly, would you come back or recommend a family visit to our city centre?

Would I? what do you think after the experience I had last Saturday in ‘The Town I love So well’