Manorcunningham school launches new book on Thursday

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.