Eighty two year old Wexford man and well known traditional fiddle player Patrick Kavanagh remembers his earliest days at primary school in Oylegate, Enniscorthy Co. Wexford. The year was 1933.
''Miss Larkin was my first teacher. The games I played included hurling, rounders, and marbles. On the first day of May every year I kicked off my shoes and walked barefooted to school through the fields. All children did the same. It was the culture at the time. We enjoyed that freedom.”
When Patrick moved house and school to Rosslare Mercy Convent Sr. Francis taught him for three years. “I walked three miles to and from school across fields every day not unlike many children in underdeveloped countries today. I walked alone.”
“My music career began at the age of seven. I had piano lessons from Sr. Margaret Mary in the Mercy Convent. She taught me the basic rudiments and from there I played the Banjo, Mandolin and Fiddle. My musical education was the most significant part of my educational experience in primary school and I am grateful for the musical education that the Mercy nuns finely honed. I play the fiddle every day and at eighty two am still learning... you could say I'm a life long learner.”
Patrick Kavanagh, 'Shalom' Kilkenny Road, Carlow.
Friday, February 19, 2010
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Many grandparents that we have interviewed and who attended school in Ireland from the 1930s through to the 1940's experienced all Irish schools.The general curriculum devised in 1934 stressed the handing on of a cultural heritage in the 'Gaelic' tradition.Mastery of the Irish language,Irish music, games and history was a primary goal in the primary schools curriculum to inculcate national pride.
ReplyDeleteA K.Bracken