Mamnorcunningham school launches new book on Thursday

Pupils of Scoil Phroinnseas Naofa, Magherabeg, Manorcunningham, will mark another milestone in the school’s history this coming Thursday with the launch of a new book entitled Our Place, Our Space, Our Location.

The publication is made up of a series of articles and personal reflections that captivates the local history and heritage of the school and surrounding area as recorded by current and former past pupils over a 20-year period. It has been produced in collaboration with the local Raymochy Historical Society.

At the turn of the millennium, the Irish Independent newspaper ran a series of competitions for primary schools on cross-curricular themes around local heritage and buildings of significance in the local community.

The children of Magherabeg National School under the guidance of recently retired principal, Bridin Farren, rose to the challenge and undertook several projects that were entered into these annual competitions.

The pupils were richly rewarded for their efforts with successes in 2000, 2001, and 2005 for which the school received financial contributions in excess of £20,000 that would enable them to purchase resources that would enhance the pupils’ educational experiences.

The projects that were undertaken by the pupils capture a large volume of information relating to the school itself, the local townlands, local folklore, the Ulster-Scots dialect, the hiring fairs, and local buildings and organisations that together form a treasure trove of local information.

The calibre of their work was readily recognised by the local Raymochy Historical Society encouraged the school to make the information more widely available and would help to facilitate its publication in collaboration with the school management.

Within the book one learns that the school opened on April 25, 1955 while the area was within the Parish of St. Johnston. It received a transfer of pupils from the Balleighan and Drumoghill National Schools’ and it records the names of the first 25 pupils on the attendance roll.

It captures a time when the school’s two classrooms were heated by open fires and the school was run without electricity or a telephone. The book lists the names of the school’s past principals and teachers and records the names of the local families who attended the school, some of them involving four generations of the same family.

The accompanying photographs enhance their story. The changing face of education in the local area brings us on the journey from its humble beginnings to its need to expand, through extensions and new builds, to the modern facility that is to the forefront of education today.

The book launch will take place at the Magherabeg National School, Manorcunningham, this Thursday, June 1 at 11am. The school’s board of management and the Raymochy Historical Society extend an open invitation to the local community to come along and join them in celebrating this milestone. Tea and refreshments will be served and the book will be available to purchase on the day.