Sisters recall fond memories of Seamount

AUGUST 2009 was a landmark in the history of Seamount College in Kinvara. The remaining three members of the congregation who founded the school in 1921 moved to Gort, leaving behind the seaside, the school and the community that had meant so much to them.

“We really had mixed feelings,” recalled Sr Pius Doherty, who still works in the school but, like the other Sisters of Mercy, now lives in Gort.
“We knew once the school was being leased that we had to go. It is all the one building, so it wouldn’t have been possible to stay. We were lonely, leaving, still are,” Sr Caoimhín Ní Chonghaile revealed.
The sisters had a long association with Seamount. On Sunday, April 28, 1878, four sisters led by Sr Aloysius Doyle, a veteran of the Crimean War, took up their abode in a premises that had been acquired from the Murray family and on land donated by Blake Forster of Galway. The sisters immediately delivered primary education and in 1921, when they acquired Seamount House, they started a boarding school and according to the congregation had a thriving Secondary Top at first. After a few years, this became a full class-A secondary school.
Sr Berchmans Liddy attended the second-level school in Kinvara before she entered the order in Gort, a decision heavily influenced by her teenage years in Seamount.
“I think being a past pupil of the school, it did affect my vocation. The Sisters of Mercy were the natural choice because I knew a bit about them. I didn’t know much about the other orders at the time,” she outlined.
Sr Berchmans returned to the school in 1948, when there were 70 boarders and 50 day pupils. She spent some 25 years in the school, where she described the pupils as “industrious” and eager to do well in exams.
It was a difficult time in Ireland and according to Sr Berchmans, many of the girls who attended Seamount were faced with few employment opportunities locally.
“A good number of them went to Dublin or England. They would have gotten into the civil service in Dublin and then others would have gone teaching or nursing in England,” she explained.
Despite teaching in many schools in North Clare and Galway, Seamount remained her favourite.
“There was a lovely view of the sea and the Burren mountains and the sunsets there were really beautiful,” Sr Berchmans recalled.
Well-known local historian, Sr De Lourdes Fahy arrived at the school in 1961 and remained there for nine years, teaching history, geography, English and maths.
“There were more boarders then than day pupils and the boarders rarely got home. I was a junior and I had a lot to do with them. It was the ‘swinging ’60s and I learned a lot,” she remembered.
Sr De Lourdes recalled one particularly historic moment she spent in the school.
“The boarders had to amuse themselves most of the time and we only got television in time for Kennedy’s death. I remember the boarders crying when they heard,” she said.
A more relevant moment for the sisters was to occur two years later, as the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican was to draw to a close.
“At the time of Vatican II, things were beginning to change and life was beginning to become more open,” she outlined.
Sr Maura Crowe worked in Seamount during the 1970s, which was a time of transformation in the educational system nationwide.
“I went to Kinvara at a time when a change was coming in education. Free transport was being introduced and it was reducing the number of boarders at the school. That was quite serious because the number of boarders at the time was higher than the number of day pupils,” she outlined.
“This was at a time when the Department of Education was closing small schools and Seamount was earmarked,” Sr Maura recalled. The school was given a five-year reprieve on condition that enrolment reached 150 students. The numbers of boarders increased once again and the school was allowed to remain open.
From the early 1970s, Seamount College was involved in the Curriculum Development Centre, based at St Patrick’s Comprehensive School in Shannon. The role of the centre under Dr Diarmaid Ó Donnabháin was to inform national policy with regard to second-level education. This meant that Seamount was a pilot for the social and environment studies project at the time.
“The curriculum unit laid the foundation for the change in education from the formal and academic to the creative,” she stated.
One of her favourite elements of her time in Seamount was the wealth of music in the school.
“There was lots of music in the school. The people were great and we had wonderful students among the local population and among the boarders who came from Tipperary, Dublin, England, America, Clare and Mayo.”
Sr Mary Brosnan worked in the school from 1980 to 1986, having previously worked in Ennistymon and Lisdoonvarna.
“It was an exciting time to be there. The school had improved now that we had confidence in the numbers. The number of boarders increased so that at one point there were a lot of people coming into Kinvara for their education. It was a seaside village and a lot of new houses were being built, increasing the local population. The school was thriving,” she reflected.
“I loved it there. I love the seaside anyway but the people were really wonderful. We were going out a lot more then than in the early days,” Sr Mary recollected.
She has great memories of other religious that were there during her time. Rising at 6.30am for 7.30am mass, Sr Mary acknowledged that it wasn’t easy working in a boarding school.
“They were tough times. There were lots of early mornings and late nights, trying to get the boarders off to bed,” she remembered.
For the pupils, school started at 9am and continued until 4pm. Study took place from 5pm to 7pm, with a further study period from 8pm to 9.30pm. Lights were turned out between 10pm and 11pm. Many of the boarders went home just once each quarter, while for others it was once a month. The boarders were phased out in 1994 but support from local primary schools ensured that the school sustained its teacher numbers.
Sr Caoimhín had lived in Seamount since 1983. The late ’80s and early ’90s marked a decade of change in education at Seamount, as the emphasis moved from formal academia to a more holistic education.
“There is a great emphasis on building the whole person,” she reflected. “The weak students are really helped. There is no one missed out on.”
She recalled how attitudes within the church altered during her time in the South Galway seaside village.
“Life has changed for us as sisters since we came to Kinvara. Before that, we as religious had been always inside. There we were suddenly outside mixing with the people,” she revealed.
Sr Pius Doherty is still involved in teaching at the school. Though officially retired for 15 years, she has remained as a remedial teacher, something she loves doing.
“I thought we were nearly enclosed while the boarders were in the school. We were tied to the boarders really but when they went, we could leave at our leisure after school,” she mused.
Sr Pius believes it would be extremely difficult for the sisters to run a boarding school today.
“It was easier to please girls in the past. They used to go on long walks to pass the time but towards the end you couldn’t get them out. They wanted to watch videos or television,” she claimed.
“I was a day pupil myself. I marvelled at the boarders for the way they adjusted,” Sr Maura remarked. “When I was at school I believed that there was more of a bond between the boarders and the convent. I came and went but they were there all the time,” she continued.
However, Sr Caoimhín was a boarder during her school days and she maintained that there was no distinction between day girls and boarders.
The noughties proved a difficult time for the sisters and for the people of the area, as Seamount College faced the threat of closure.
Sr Mary Brosnan remembered the spirit of the community at the time.
“People really appreciated the place. They showed that when the department wanted to close the school,” she recalled.
Sr Caoimhín has high praise for all those involved in the efforts to save the school, especially former principal Eileen Mulkerrins and the organisation set up to lobby for the retention of the school.
“The RESCUE group was great. Thank God the campaign was successful and the school is now leased to the department,” she sighed.
The move to Gort in August of Srs Berchmans, Pius and Caoimhín was historic, in that it represented the end of the sisters’ 80-year tradition of second-level education in Kinvara.
“I feel our legacy is that of caring for each individual who attended the school. I think we leave a legacy of each person being looked after in an individual way,” Sr Pius surmised.
The local community is this weekend holding a celebration to acknowledge the contribution the sisters have made to the local community.
Mass will be held on Sunday at 6pm, followed by dinner in the Pier Head, Kinvara.