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4 GLENSTAL NEWSLETTER Autumn 2011
New ‘IRISH TIMES’ Editor evin O’Sulllivan (Glenstal 19731977) has been appointed to the prestigious post of Editor of The Irish Times, which he joined in 1997. He had previously worked on the Connacht Tribune and the Tuam Herald. He had been news editor of the Times since 2006. He also served as night editor, special projects editor, editor of the Health supplement and environmental and food science correspondent.
must have been the year (1981-82) that he spent as Housemaster and teacher of Biology back at Glenstal. He even went on one of Fr. Andrew’s French Trips – which was a popular form of hara-kiri in the last millennium.
K
Kevin wrote an article In Praise of Glenstal in the Irish Times of Tuesday, Feb 5th, 2008, when we were celebrating the 75th anniversary of the School. It would be so easy to write an article In Praise of Kevin O’Sullivan. We wish him many happy years in his new post.
Kevin graduated from UCD in 1981 with a BSc, and with a diploma in journalism from DCU in 1983. His most daring assignment to date
Recent Publications
Let Us Remember
John Gore-Grimes, Planning and Environmental Law in Ireland
Kieran Keown (1951-1955) Mattie McGuire (1953-1959) Paul Joyce (1971-1975) Peter Booth (1969-1975) Tony Saunders (1952-1957) Paul Sandys (1959-1963) Mercy Egan, Mother of Robert Hugh Hamilton, Father of David Maureen Anna Conan, Mother of Alastair Patricia Collins, Mother of Stephen Ryan Vera Fitzgerald, Mother of John Frank O’Rourke, Father of Tiernan and Shane David Hooper, Brother of Br. Denis Bertie Tierney, Brother of Frs. Mark & Philip, and Henry (†) Paddy Doyle, Art Teacher (1964-1971) Norman Butler, Father of Seán & Paul (†) Kathleen Enraght-Moony, Mother of Robert & Peter Yann Fouéré (Mauger), French Teacher (1949-1950)
William Ryan, The Bloody Meadow
Wedding Bells EDWARD LEAHY (1997) & SANDRA EGAN PADDY MCELLIGOTT (1998) & SUZANNE MCMAHON GORDON HOLMES (1986) & BRETTE BEATRICE KAMENY RONAN BRENNAN (1993) & SINEAD BARRETT JOHN CALLAN (1997) & PATRICIA D’ARCY ALAN FLEISCHMANN (1969) & KARA THURMAN DECLAN MAGEE (1999) & ROSÍN FURLONG ANTHONY CARROLL (1997) & ALISON COUGHLAN MARK TWOHIG (2000) & AVALON EVERETT
PADDY DOYLE
P
addy Doyle was a much-loved – and indeed venerated – Art Teacher at Glenstal from 1964 to 1971. Were you ever sent to Matron to get a bucket of steam? Or to the carpentry shop for either a skirting ladder, a sky hook or a mahogany gas pipe? If so you were most probably a first year boy in a Paddy Doyle art class and too mystified to query this eccentric teacher. He also used to play the prank on the innocent first years who asked him how to draw something and when he had finished showing them he’d say with a serious face, “That’ll be five shillings please”.
But the joking apart, Paddy Doyle was the original “Dead Poets Society” founder, inspiring his motley crew of followers to express themselves and be proud of those expressions. Everyone was given a nickname. What was yours? He brought art to a spectacular pinnacle with the annual exhibition on sports day, which at times threatened to eclipse the actual sporting activities. Paddy Doyle was an enigma and I’m sure his eccentricities caused mild bewilderment within the teaching fraternity, while inspiring his students to heights of creativity and self- expression. He always seemed to play the outsider card, charmingly désabusé in respect of what he regarded as his own academic and career failures. Indeed
www.myubique.com info@myubique.com
Greetings From The President was honoured with the Presidency of the Glenstal Society last May as I lounged beside a rock pool in a place called Curl Curl in North Sydney, Australia with a can of cold beer, known locally as a tinny and thus became the first President of the Society to have been as far away from Glenstal as is geographically possible as the honour landed on my shoulders.
I
in that regard by sending in all up to date information about yourself, especially change of address, of e-mails, occupations, or telephone numbers. You can use the Society website, www.myubique.com for that purpose, or write to/ e-mail Fr. Andrew direct (andrew@glenstal.org)
My main wish for the Glenstal Society is to ensure the ongoing and to develop the continuing production of, and as up to date as is possible, the unique, Ubique.
I would like to pay tribute to Gearoid Bradley and Peter Crerar for once again setting up and running our golf outing in Druid’s Heath at which some 28 took part and which was enjoyed by all. Long may they continue to run the show.
Father Andrew and Greg Ashe work very hard to maintain Ubique and I specifically ask that you help matters
I would also like to thank those who continue to fund the Society and Ubique by both standing order and
donations and would encourage all those who can, to help in that particular regard in these straitened times. Currently a group of us oldies from the 1950’s meet twice a year for lunch and chat. Thanks to our free travel passes, the group has grown from 4 to 15 at the last count with new applications being considered all the time. A very enjoyable exercise. You could consider organising something similar for your own decade – a great way of keeping old friends in touch. I am glad to report that my predecessor in title, Fr Celestine, is going well and enjoying his retirement from his presidency. Lucky chap! My best to you all. Henry St J Blake
THE CLASS of ’91 Reunion
he lived life by his own extraordinary rules. His music teaching was also an inspirational experience rather than an academic one, and it is a regret of my life that I did not study piano with him. Even at this distance it is difficult to evaluate the man. In real life his story was mysterious and at times bizarre and convoluted but this is not a biography: it is an obituary for a man who had a deep and lasting influence on those who came within his orbit. Patrick Walshe (1964-1970) Edited by Andrew Nugent osb Layout & Print by INTYPE Ltd.
T
hings change. It is now possible to get from Dublin to Glenstal in under two hours; several of the class of ’91 can remember when you needed days, native porters, elephants and a good wind to penetrate the interior. Liam Beatty, Eoin O’Brien and organiser extraordinaire, Shane Connors established a base camp on the Friday night in the Dunraven Arms, Adare and a civilised evening was had by all accounts.
The following day the rest of the posse arrived at Glenstal in dribs and drabs. The monks were in conclave so we had the run of the place. The current catering boss, Rosaleen, treated us to coffee and biscuits and we had a good wander around. It was uncanny both to remember how as a boy you would see past pupils ambling around with a slightly distant look as they walked in the footsteps of their younger selves and, as one of those very past pupils, to
be poking around the place saying ‘this wasn’t here, it used to be like this, remember that’. Places change too. The bike sheds of yore are no longer with us, although we were amused to encounter the current generation of smokers puffing not far away outside the chemistry lab, laughing in the face of danger. Further on towards the glen we admired the revamped walled gardens by the old tennis courts. Continued overleaf
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2 GLENSTAL NEWSLETTER Autumn 2011
The Class of ’91 Continued Back in Adare we were joined by Fr Andrew, Br Timothy and Leo McGrath for dinner and chat. David Egan said a few words and Fr Andrew gave us the hard sell on the new season’s old boys tie. Considering the class of ’91 numbered only 31, 17 was a decent showing. The non-attendees were mostly overseas with the exception of David Kiernan who has sadly passed away and one or two untraceables. Ricky Roche Garland almost made it but was called away to urgent business in London at the last minute. What seems to have remained the same is that, after 20 years, we still get on famously and it’s always a pleasure to spend some time together. Nick Nugent (1985-1991)
Abbot Gregory
n 26th July 2011, Fr Gregory Collins of Glenstal was elected abbot of the Benedictine community of Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. This monastery is located on Mount Zion, just outside the old city walls, and is traditionally venerated as the site of the ‘Dormition’ or ‘Falling Asleep’ of Mary, more commonly called the Assumption of Mary. The community, which is German speaking, has twenty monks. Gregory is the first native speaker of English to be chosen as abbot and has been elected for a term of eight years.
O
On Sunday 2nd October Gregory received the abbatial blessing from Bishop William Shomali, auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The ceremony was attended by representatives of many of the Christian
Autumn 2011 GLENSTAL NEWSLETTER 3 communities in the city as well as by a large number of Gregory’s family and friends. Diplomatic representatives included the German and British ambassadors to Israel, the Representative of Ireland to the Palestinian Authority and H.E. Mr Breifne O’Reilly, Irish Ambassador to Israel. The community of Glenstal was represented by Fr Henry O’Shea, who came from Rome, Fr Senan Furlong, Fr James McMahon and Br Pádraig McIntyre. Together with Nóirín Ní Riain the Glenstal contingent sang a couple of pieces at the Mass, including a Marian antiphon the text of which was composed by Gregory and the music by Fr Paul Nash. In his address at the end of the ceremony Abbot Gregory expressed his thanks in particular to his predecessor, Abbot Benedict M. Lindemann, and to Abbot Patrick and the monastic community of Glenstal. Gregory was born in Belfast in 1960. He studied at Queen’s University Belfast, gaining a doctorate in Byzantine Studies in 1991. He made Solemn Profession at Glenstal Abbey in 1994. He was Junior House Master in the school for a few years and following ordination in 1995, he studied psychology at the Jung Institute in Zurich. Between 1998 and 2002 he was Headmaster of Glenstal Abbey School (1998-2002), after which he spent six years teaching at the Benedictine university of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. After his return to Glenstal in 2008, he had a varied ministry of writing and preaching retreats. Among his publications are The Glenstal Book of Icons (Dublin: Columba Press, 2002) and Meeting Christ in His Mysteries: A Benedictine Vision of the Spiritual Life (Dublin: Columba Press, 2011).
and her family travelled from Cork for the occasion. The Headmaster, Br Martin, opened proceedings by addressing Maree directly. “Part of today is about marking an ending, and saying farewell and there’s sadness in that. But, another major part of today is looking back with joy and with thanksgiving. This is a really important day for Glenstal Abbey School. In the 35 years of dedicated, generous, warm, faithful, fruitful – and sometimes feisty! – service which you, Maree, have given to this school and to those who have passed through its halls, we have much to thank you for, and much to thank God for. Because through you, God has blessed Glenstal Abbey School.” A series of tributes followed from School Captain, Billy Shanahan on behalf of the students; Fiona Hanly on behalf of the staff; Cormac Macnamara (’96) on behalf of former students, and Abbot Patrick on behalf of the community. After several presentations, it was Maree’s turn to speak. Ever the teacher, she illustrated her talk with a PowerPoint slide show of photos from throughout her time in the school. The celebrations were rounded off with a barbecue on the terrace for everyone.
his year’s expedition to Tanzania cut new ground. Six boys and myself headed for Mvimwa Abbey Primary School, near Lake Tanganyika. It took two days in a land cruiser from Dar es Salaam to reach this very remote spot. We were very well received. The boys (Josh Kenny, James Igoe, Conor Nolan, Shane O’Reilly, Rob Shanahan, Tim Starr) quickly set to work for the next three weeks delivering courses on Computer Literacy and Conversational skills in English. The first was easy as we had the help of the ‘Mevis Beacon’ typing program; it was installed on the computers recently provided by Camara (an Irish NGO). The second was very demanding as Swahili is the mother tongue of the pupils and most only have a rudimentary knowledge of English. The boys were surprised by rote identical responses to their varied questions. We also introduced rugby to the school!
T
provided the funds to hire teachers. These latter worked well and the school exam results now rank it as #104 out of the 14000 Primary schools in Tanzania! Local children are schooled there free of charge, as well as ‘nomadic’ children passing through the area. When they got the computers two years ago (via Glenstal) all teachers gave up their salary for three months to pay their share in the purchase of a diesel generator to run them. However they have only two hours of electricity per day in the school. They can’t even afford the diesel. We are intent on getting them solar panels, as we did for Hanga Abbey School. Then, having sold the generator, they will purchase desks and books for the students as well as a protective barrier around the school. Hyenas have taken to ‘visiting’ the school at night. Recently they killed the two dogs, ate them and then tried to access the children in the dorms! Thanks are due to those who contributed to the Hanga project. If you want to help with another ‘winner’ now is your chance. Please do! You might slip €50 into an envelope and forward it to me. That way you’ll be a contributor to this project too. Many thanks! John O’Callaghan osb
William Ryan (1978-1983) – by Himself
I
Senan Furlong O.S.B.
Maree McCarthy trio of Abbots led current and past students and staff in paying tribute to Maree McCarthy at the end of her last day as a teacher in the school on Saturday 28th May. Class finished early and the whole school repaired to the Sports Hall for a special Assembly in Maree’s honour. Her sister, Rose,
Tanzania 2011
The school has a remarkable history. Founded about ten years ago on borrowed money a few ‘classrooms’ were first of all built, between the monastery and the local village. Boarders were enroled, as they could be expected to pay fees, and this
We wish Abbot Gregory every happiness and blessing in his new ministry. Ad multos annos!
A
Tim Starr introducing rugby to Mvimwa Abbey School.
Maree has already moved back to Cork, but she certainly isn’t gone for good. She will return to Glenstal in November to make a cameo appearance as Ms Lynch in the school’s production of Grease! Martin Browne OSB
’m not sure I consider myself to be a proper writer yet. After all, writing a novel is a bit like running a marathon and real novelists plan ahead, pace themselves and complete the task on time. I, I’m afraid, tend to race off at the start, slow to a walk, take a bit of a rest, speed up again and then realise I’ve gone in the wrong direction and have to start all over again – needless to say I’m not very good at finishing on time. In fact, how I’ve managed to finish two books at all is a bit of a mystery to me but it may have something to do with optimism – an essential trait for any literary endeavour. Or stubbornness perhaps. One or the other.
Above all though, I’m very happy I took the risk of turning my back on a moderately successful legal career after nearly twenty years. THE HOLY THIEF has done pleasingly well, being published in 14 countries now, I think, and shortlisted for a number of awards – including the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and The Irish Fiction Award. While writing this I’m at the nervous stage of waiting to see what the world will make of the second novel – THE BLOODY MEADOW. But I’m optimistic, always optimistic and perhaps this week I’ll even hit my word count target. (P.S. We used to call him Billy).
GLNL aut11 PRINT 2/11/11 7:17 PM Page 2
2 GLENSTAL NEWSLETTER Autumn 2011
The Class of ’91 Continued Back in Adare we were joined by Fr Andrew, Br Timothy and Leo McGrath for dinner and chat. David Egan said a few words and Fr Andrew gave us the hard sell on the new season’s old boys tie. Considering the class of ’91 numbered only 31, 17 was a decent showing. The non-attendees were mostly overseas with the exception of David Kiernan who has sadly passed away and one or two untraceables. Ricky Roche Garland almost made it but was called away to urgent business in London at the last minute. What seems to have remained the same is that, after 20 years, we still get on famously and it’s always a pleasure to spend some time together. Nick Nugent (1985-1991)
Abbot Gregory
n 26th July 2011, Fr Gregory Collins of Glenstal was elected abbot of the Benedictine community of Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. This monastery is located on Mount Zion, just outside the old city walls, and is traditionally venerated as the site of the ‘Dormition’ or ‘Falling Asleep’ of Mary, more commonly called the Assumption of Mary. The community, which is German speaking, has twenty monks. Gregory is the first native speaker of English to be chosen as abbot and has been elected for a term of eight years.
O
On Sunday 2nd October Gregory received the abbatial blessing from Bishop William Shomali, auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The ceremony was attended by representatives of many of the Christian
Autumn 2011 GLENSTAL NEWSLETTER 3 communities in the city as well as by a large number of Gregory’s family and friends. Diplomatic representatives included the German and British ambassadors to Israel, the Representative of Ireland to the Palestinian Authority and H.E. Mr Breifne O’Reilly, Irish Ambassador to Israel. The community of Glenstal was represented by Fr Henry O’Shea, who came from Rome, Fr Senan Furlong, Fr James McMahon and Br Pádraig McIntyre. Together with Nóirín Ní Riain the Glenstal contingent sang a couple of pieces at the Mass, including a Marian antiphon the text of which was composed by Gregory and the music by Fr Paul Nash. In his address at the end of the ceremony Abbot Gregory expressed his thanks in particular to his predecessor, Abbot Benedict M. Lindemann, and to Abbot Patrick and the monastic community of Glenstal. Gregory was born in Belfast in 1960. He studied at Queen’s University Belfast, gaining a doctorate in Byzantine Studies in 1991. He made Solemn Profession at Glenstal Abbey in 1994. He was Junior House Master in the school for a few years and following ordination in 1995, he studied psychology at the Jung Institute in Zurich. Between 1998 and 2002 he was Headmaster of Glenstal Abbey School (1998-2002), after which he spent six years teaching at the Benedictine university of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome. After his return to Glenstal in 2008, he had a varied ministry of writing and preaching retreats. Among his publications are The Glenstal Book of Icons (Dublin: Columba Press, 2002) and Meeting Christ in His Mysteries: A Benedictine Vision of the Spiritual Life (Dublin: Columba Press, 2011).
and her family travelled from Cork for the occasion. The Headmaster, Br Martin, opened proceedings by addressing Maree directly. “Part of today is about marking an ending, and saying farewell and there’s sadness in that. But, another major part of today is looking back with joy and with thanksgiving. This is a really important day for Glenstal Abbey School. In the 35 years of dedicated, generous, warm, faithful, fruitful – and sometimes feisty! – service which you, Maree, have given to this school and to those who have passed through its halls, we have much to thank you for, and much to thank God for. Because through you, God has blessed Glenstal Abbey School.” A series of tributes followed from School Captain, Billy Shanahan on behalf of the students; Fiona Hanly on behalf of the staff; Cormac Macnamara (’96) on behalf of former students, and Abbot Patrick on behalf of the community. After several presentations, it was Maree’s turn to speak. Ever the teacher, she illustrated her talk with a PowerPoint slide show of photos from throughout her time in the school. The celebrations were rounded off with a barbecue on the terrace for everyone.
his year’s expedition to Tanzania cut new ground. Six boys and myself headed for Mvimwa Abbey Primary School, near Lake Tanganyika. It took two days in a land cruiser from Dar es Salaam to reach this very remote spot. We were very well received. The boys (Josh Kenny, James Igoe, Conor Nolan, Shane O’Reilly, Rob Shanahan, Tim Starr) quickly set to work for the next three weeks delivering courses on Computer Literacy and Conversational skills in English. The first was easy as we had the help of the ‘Mevis Beacon’ typing program; it was installed on the computers recently provided by Camara (an Irish NGO). The second was very demanding as Swahili is the mother tongue of the pupils and most only have a rudimentary knowledge of English. The boys were surprised by rote identical responses to their varied questions. We also introduced rugby to the school!
T
provided the funds to hire teachers. These latter worked well and the school exam results now rank it as #104 out of the 14000 Primary schools in Tanzania! Local children are schooled there free of charge, as well as ‘nomadic’ children passing through the area. When they got the computers two years ago (via Glenstal) all teachers gave up their salary for three months to pay their share in the purchase of a diesel generator to run them. However they have only two hours of electricity per day in the school. They can’t even afford the diesel. We are intent on getting them solar panels, as we did for Hanga Abbey School. Then, having sold the generator, they will purchase desks and books for the students as well as a protective barrier around the school. Hyenas have taken to ‘visiting’ the school at night. Recently they killed the two dogs, ate them and then tried to access the children in the dorms! Thanks are due to those who contributed to the Hanga project. If you want to help with another ‘winner’ now is your chance. Please do! You might slip €50 into an envelope and forward it to me. That way you’ll be a contributor to this project too. Many thanks! John O’Callaghan osb
William Ryan (1978-1983) – by Himself
I
Senan Furlong O.S.B.
Maree McCarthy trio of Abbots led current and past students and staff in paying tribute to Maree McCarthy at the end of her last day as a teacher in the school on Saturday 28th May. Class finished early and the whole school repaired to the Sports Hall for a special Assembly in Maree’s honour. Her sister, Rose,
Tanzania 2011
The school has a remarkable history. Founded about ten years ago on borrowed money a few ‘classrooms’ were first of all built, between the monastery and the local village. Boarders were enroled, as they could be expected to pay fees, and this
We wish Abbot Gregory every happiness and blessing in his new ministry. Ad multos annos!
A
Tim Starr introducing rugby to Mvimwa Abbey School.
Maree has already moved back to Cork, but she certainly isn’t gone for good. She will return to Glenstal in November to make a cameo appearance as Ms Lynch in the school’s production of Grease! Martin Browne OSB
’m not sure I consider myself to be a proper writer yet. After all, writing a novel is a bit like running a marathon and real novelists plan ahead, pace themselves and complete the task on time. I, I’m afraid, tend to race off at the start, slow to a walk, take a bit of a rest, speed up again and then realise I’ve gone in the wrong direction and have to start all over again – needless to say I’m not very good at finishing on time. In fact, how I’ve managed to finish two books at all is a bit of a mystery to me but it may have something to do with optimism – an essential trait for any literary endeavour. Or stubbornness perhaps. One or the other.
Above all though, I’m very happy I took the risk of turning my back on a moderately successful legal career after nearly twenty years. THE HOLY THIEF has done pleasingly well, being published in 14 countries now, I think, and shortlisted for a number of awards – including the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and The Irish Fiction Award. While writing this I’m at the nervous stage of waiting to see what the world will make of the second novel – THE BLOODY MEADOW. But I’m optimistic, always optimistic and perhaps this week I’ll even hit my word count target. (P.S. We used to call him Billy).
GLNL aut11 PRINT 2/11/11 7:16 PM Page 1
4 GLENSTAL NEWSLETTER Autumn 2011
New ‘IRISH TIMES’ Editor evin O’Sulllivan (Glenstal 19731977) has been appointed to the prestigious post of Editor of The Irish Times, which he joined in 1997. He had previously worked on the Connacht Tribune and the Tuam Herald. He had been news editor of the Times since 2006. He also served as night editor, special projects editor, editor of the Health supplement and environmental and food science correspondent.
must have been the year (1981-82) that he spent as Housemaster and teacher of Biology back at Glenstal. He even went on one of Fr. Andrew’s French Trips – which was a popular form of hara-kiri in the last millennium.
K
Kevin wrote an article In Praise of Glenstal in the Irish Times of Tuesday, Feb 5th, 2008, when we were celebrating the 75th anniversary of the School. It would be so easy to write an article In Praise of Kevin O’Sullivan. We wish him many happy years in his new post.
Kevin graduated from UCD in 1981 with a BSc, and with a diploma in journalism from DCU in 1983. His most daring assignment to date
Recent Publications
Let Us Remember
John Gore-Grimes, Planning and Environmental Law in Ireland
Kieran Keown (1951-1955) Mattie McGuire (1953-1959) Paul Joyce (1971-1975) Peter Booth (1969-1975) Tony Saunders (1952-1957) Paul Sandys (1959-1963) Mercy Egan, Mother of Robert Hugh Hamilton, Father of David Maureen Anna Conan, Mother of Alastair Patricia Collins, Mother of Stephen Ryan Vera Fitzgerald, Mother of John Frank O’Rourke, Father of Tiernan and Shane David Hooper, Brother of Br. Denis Bertie Tierney, Brother of Frs. Mark & Philip, and Henry (†) Paddy Doyle, Art Teacher (1964-1971) Norman Butler, Father of Seán & Paul (†) Kathleen Enraght-Moony, Mother of Robert & Peter Yann Fouéré (Mauger), French Teacher (1949-1950)
William Ryan, The Bloody Meadow
Wedding Bells EDWARD LEAHY (1997) & SANDRA EGAN PADDY MCELLIGOTT (1998) & SUZANNE MCMAHON GORDON HOLMES (1986) & BRETTE BEATRICE KAMENY RONAN BRENNAN (1993) & SINEAD BARRETT JOHN CALLAN (1997) & PATRICIA D’ARCY ALAN FLEISCHMANN (1969) & KARA THURMAN DECLAN MAGEE (1999) & ROSÍN FURLONG ANTHONY CARROLL (1997) & ALISON COUGHLAN MARK TWOHIG (2000) & AVALON EVERETT
PADDY DOYLE
P
addy Doyle was a much-loved – and indeed venerated – Art Teacher at Glenstal from 1964 to 1971. Were you ever sent to Matron to get a bucket of steam? Or to the carpentry shop for either a skirting ladder, a sky hook or a mahogany gas pipe? If so you were most probably a first year boy in a Paddy Doyle art class and too mystified to query this eccentric teacher. He also used to play the prank on the innocent first years who asked him how to draw something and when he had finished showing them he’d say with a serious face, “That’ll be five shillings please”.
But the joking apart, Paddy Doyle was the original “Dead Poets Society” founder, inspiring his motley crew of followers to express themselves and be proud of those expressions. Everyone was given a nickname. What was yours? He brought art to a spectacular pinnacle with the annual exhibition on sports day, which at times threatened to eclipse the actual sporting activities. Paddy Doyle was an enigma and I’m sure his eccentricities caused mild bewilderment within the teaching fraternity, while inspiring his students to heights of creativity and self- expression. He always seemed to play the outsider card, charmingly désabusé in respect of what he regarded as his own academic and career failures. Indeed
www.myubique.com info@myubique.com
Greetings From The President was honoured with the Presidency of the Glenstal Society last May as I lounged beside a rock pool in a place called Curl Curl in North Sydney, Australia with a can of cold beer, known locally as a tinny and thus became the first President of the Society to have been as far away from Glenstal as is geographically possible as the honour landed on my shoulders.
I
in that regard by sending in all up to date information about yourself, especially change of address, of e-mails, occupations, or telephone numbers. You can use the Society website, www.myubique.com for that purpose, or write to/ e-mail Fr. Andrew direct (andrew@glenstal.org)
My main wish for the Glenstal Society is to ensure the ongoing and to develop the continuing production of, and as up to date as is possible, the unique, Ubique.
I would like to pay tribute to Gearoid Bradley and Peter Crerar for once again setting up and running our golf outing in Druid’s Heath at which some 28 took part and which was enjoyed by all. Long may they continue to run the show.
Father Andrew and Greg Ashe work very hard to maintain Ubique and I specifically ask that you help matters
I would also like to thank those who continue to fund the Society and Ubique by both standing order and
donations and would encourage all those who can, to help in that particular regard in these straitened times. Currently a group of us oldies from the 1950’s meet twice a year for lunch and chat. Thanks to our free travel passes, the group has grown from 4 to 15 at the last count with new applications being considered all the time. A very enjoyable exercise. You could consider organising something similar for your own decade – a great way of keeping old friends in touch. I am glad to report that my predecessor in title, Fr Celestine, is going well and enjoying his retirement from his presidency. Lucky chap! My best to you all. Henry St J Blake
THE CLASS of ’91 Reunion
he lived life by his own extraordinary rules. His music teaching was also an inspirational experience rather than an academic one, and it is a regret of my life that I did not study piano with him. Even at this distance it is difficult to evaluate the man. In real life his story was mysterious and at times bizarre and convoluted but this is not a biography: it is an obituary for a man who had a deep and lasting influence on those who came within his orbit. Patrick Walshe (1964-1970) Edited by Andrew Nugent osb Layout & Print by INTYPE Ltd.
T
hings change. It is now possible to get from Dublin to Glenstal in under two hours; several of the class of ’91 can remember when you needed days, native porters, elephants and a good wind to penetrate the interior. Liam Beatty, Eoin O’Brien and organiser extraordinaire, Shane Connors established a base camp on the Friday night in the Dunraven Arms, Adare and a civilised evening was had by all accounts.
The following day the rest of the posse arrived at Glenstal in dribs and drabs. The monks were in conclave so we had the run of the place. The current catering boss, Rosaleen, treated us to coffee and biscuits and we had a good wander around. It was uncanny both to remember how as a boy you would see past pupils ambling around with a slightly distant look as they walked in the footsteps of their younger selves and, as one of those very past pupils, to
be poking around the place saying ‘this wasn’t here, it used to be like this, remember that’. Places change too. The bike sheds of yore are no longer with us, although we were amused to encounter the current generation of smokers puffing not far away outside the chemistry lab, laughing in the face of danger. Further on towards the glen we admired the revamped walled gardens by the old tennis courts. Continued overleaf