It never ceases to amaze me how these things can evolve out of a seemingly negative situation. My niece’s message in the morning that her husband’s cousin’s school had a library they wanted to de-access didn’t exactly rock my soul with joy but my niece is my niece and I made the phone call. The cousin on the other end of the phone seemed to know what she was about and, after a few questions, I asked her could she go to the library, pick ten books and call their titles out over the phone. This she did and the next morning I was on the road. My journey brought me through the heart of Mayo and, on a bright summer’s morning, it was a pleasant drive. The unfolding landscape is no longer visible from our main roads and it was reassuring, and refreshing, to know that such an Ireland still exists. The destination was Gortnor Abbey just outside Crossmolina. The Library was housed in a large well-lit room on the first floor. It was immediately obvious that this was no ordinary school library. When these exist in Ireland, which is not the norm, they tend to look more like an afterthought and to consist of a few straggly shelves with some sad looking volumes that are obvious hand-me-downs and basically unreadable. The chances that anybody, let alone the pupils, would take these down to read are slim to none. This was a completely different kettle of fish. The books were well shelved and easily accessible. The chairs and tables were attractively laid out with plenty of room and light to read in and literally invited one to take out a book and sit down to enjoy it. In terms of what is generally on offer in schools around the country, the Library in Gortnor Abbey was truly remarkable and spoke volumes as to the high standard of education on offer there. The problem was that the room needed to be re-roofed and the school did not know what to do with the books. The library was surprisingly strong in books in the Irish language but the buying seemed to have stopped somewhere towards the end of the sixties and most of the books were in the sean-chló. As well as that, there was a significant section of novels, short stories by Irish writers published during the thirties, forties and fifties. In terms of content, the library needed to be revitalised. After some discussion with the Principal and Vice Principal, it was decided that I would sort through the Library weeding out what needed to be dumped and taking away the rest. We would then set about building a new Library when the building was ready along the lines of the present one but with more modern books. It was and is a challenging and exciting project. Act One has been completed and the books are now in Galway. Going through them is like revisiting the Ireland of the 1950s and 60s when Ireland, it must be said, was a much more innocent country. In the English language, authors like Maurice Walsh and Francis McManus abound, while in Irish there are many old friends that haven’t been seen for years, and there are many books there that bring you straight back into the classroom. Each book was carefully covered in a way that was reminiscent of the hours spent putting Brown Paper on new schoolbooks and then sello taping them to death to make sure the new cover stayed on the book. The challenge of building the new library remains and is certainly something to look forward to. The fact that the library is being built at all is a credit to the Principal and Teachers of Gortnor Abbey and speaks volumes for the high level of their dedication and commitment. Their young charges receive an education that extends far beyond the need to score high points in their Junior and Leaving Certs. With schools like this, the youth of the country are in good hands. Visit .kennys.ie for more diaries!

No tags for this post.

Related posts

• No related posts.