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Best of 2017 – You might remember some of these things if you went to school in Ballyfin College

Marking their last official day at Ballyfin College are these Leaving Cert. students, from left: Jacinta Bradley, Diarmuid Walshe, Jim Moore and Mark Devitt. Photo: Alf Harvey.

We’re a nostalgic sort in Ireland and that is no different in Laois.

And most of us love to look back at our school days.

We tried to get one of these lists from each of the schools and this one is about Ballyfin College.

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Did you go to school in Ballyfin College, long before it was one of the top hotels in the world?

Well, if you did, you’re sure to remember some of these nuggets.

  • Canoeing on the lake happened for two weeks at the start of first year and then never again
  • The GAA teams didn’t win much but beating the CBS the odd time more than made up for it
  • Ex-footballers still have nightmares about Mr Tully’s training sessions
  • Ms O’Connor and Ms Horan were the cool teachers
  • Going to the Hop was the social event of the five years
  • Nobody ever finished their grass collection for Ag Science
  • People who transferred from Portarlington mid-year were great craic
  • The 24-hour soccer marathon involved very little soccer.
  • The handball alleys were great for “dispute resolution”
  • Every ex-pupil has bored their friends and work mates telling them their “old school is now a luxury hotel”
  • Considering the school was on an estate with hundreds of acres, lakes and woods, it was very hard to mitch class
  • Brother Gerry was sound
  • The Ballyfin girls uniform skirt circa 98-99 was the shortest in a three-county radius
  • After school study mostly involved passing notes and little or no study
  • If Brother Matthew used the word ‘codology’ you were on a strong warning
  • We were great on Blackboard Jungle, that one year
  • Andrew Strong was a famous past pupil
  • Not getting stabbed during Technical Drawing was a success
  • Anybody in Mr Canty’s class spoke French with a Cork accent
  • 5th years were either responsible enough to be in Meitheal, cool enough not to be or “just trying to get into nursing”.

SEE ALSO – you will probably also like the piece we did on the Brigidine in Mountrath last week