I spent the first two weeks of June in Ireland. It afforded me the
opportunity to visit with relatives who live there and visit the home of
my ancestors. Irish people are invariably friendly and it is always a
pleasure to visit.
The major reason for the timing of my visit was for the fiftieth anniversary of my completion of high school in Kilkenny College. It was an amazing experience for me to meet again all those people that I had spent six years with from 1960 to 1966. Surprisingly, almost every single person who could have returned did so. Because it was a boy's boarding school, the experience was very intense at the time. I was fairly unhappy with conditions in the school but applied myself to my studies and that provided me with the stepping stones to fulfilling many of my dreams. While I would have walked past all of my fellow students on the street after so many years apart, we quickly broke down the barriers of separation and time and had a splendid weekend talking animatedly about our school experiences. Three wonderful people had done all of the organizing over a period of more than a year and they must certainly be very proud of their efforts.
Kilkenny College has a very long history. Its first iteration was as the Vicars Choral in 1234, just three years after the incorporation of the city of Kilkenny. The college was formally named Kilkenny College in 1538. It has had several locations as the years passed. At certain times it was a school for Ireland's intelligentsia and at others languished for historical reasons as the tides of Irish history washed over it. In my day it was a small boarding school for the children of Protestants who had remained in the province of Leinster after Irish independence. We had an occasional Dubliner, banished to the country for errant behaviour no doubt! There was even one boy from colonial Africa.
The school was at that time housed in a beautiful Georgian building dating from 1712. The building has survived as the home of Kilkenny City Council but the school has moved and is now thriving in a newly prosperous Ireland in a beautiful rural setting just outside the city. Restoration has given the old school a more elegant sheen than I remember!
The major reason for the timing of my visit was for the fiftieth anniversary of my completion of high school in Kilkenny College. It was an amazing experience for me to meet again all those people that I had spent six years with from 1960 to 1966. Surprisingly, almost every single person who could have returned did so. Because it was a boy's boarding school, the experience was very intense at the time. I was fairly unhappy with conditions in the school but applied myself to my studies and that provided me with the stepping stones to fulfilling many of my dreams. While I would have walked past all of my fellow students on the street after so many years apart, we quickly broke down the barriers of separation and time and had a splendid weekend talking animatedly about our school experiences. Three wonderful people had done all of the organizing over a period of more than a year and they must certainly be very proud of their efforts.
Kilkenny College has a very long history. Its first iteration was as the Vicars Choral in 1234, just three years after the incorporation of the city of Kilkenny. The college was formally named Kilkenny College in 1538. It has had several locations as the years passed. At certain times it was a school for Ireland's intelligentsia and at others languished for historical reasons as the tides of Irish history washed over it. In my day it was a small boarding school for the children of Protestants who had remained in the province of Leinster after Irish independence. We had an occasional Dubliner, banished to the country for errant behaviour no doubt! There was even one boy from colonial Africa.
The school was at that time housed in a beautiful Georgian building dating from 1712. The building has survived as the home of Kilkenny City Council but the school has moved and is now thriving in a newly prosperous Ireland in a beautiful rural setting just outside the city. Restoration has given the old school a more elegant sheen than I remember!
Good to read about your Spanish and Irish experiences, Nigel, and about history. What an ancient college you attended!
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