'The greatest days of our lives'

Mullingar Vocational School class of 1974/79 reunion

Clodagh McKeon

“The greatest days of our lives” is how past pupils described their time at Mullingar Vocational School at their class reunion last night.

Former students and teachers from the class of 1974/79 reunited at Clarkes Bar in Mullingar last night to celebrate 40 years since they finished school.

Guests enjoyed themselves as they reminisced on their school memories and caught up over a drink with their former classmates and teachers.

Event organiser Caroline Egan Quinn and team decorated the venue beautifully with photos from their school days.

The reunion was in the works for just over two years but was disrupted due to the pandemic – however, all invited made a huge effort to be at the celebration and there was a great turnout on the night.

Pat Munnelly, a former teacher at Mullingar Vocational School, said: “It’s been tough over the last couple of years trying to meet up, but tonight is outstanding.”

Gladys Golden, Christine Carolan and Rose Carolan, three past pupils of the school, said: “Our school days were the best days of our lives. We had a ball, a great time!”

Everyone who attended on the night appreciated the effort that had gone in to organising the event, and many commented on the attention to detail taken when decorating the venue.

A cake with a ‘Class of 1974/79 Reunion’ topper was there for guests to enjoy, and next to it were academic books from their Leaving Certificate year and the actual Leaving Cert and Inter Cert exam papers for people to look through.

Noel Kane, a past student at Mullingar Vocational School, joked and said his school days were “good and eventful”.

He told of how he moved to England at a young age to work and 38 years later returned to Mullingar to his family, “I always missed home, so I left England almost two years ago just as Covid restrictions were easing.

“I’m seeing more and more people in the last year through working in the town than I have since I left Ireland. I catch up with people through work but it’s great that socialising is back now, it had to be.”

A beautiful poem was written by Paul Haugh especially for the reunion, and it was on display for the night.

It paid tribute to the students and teachers of the school while remembering those who have passed away before the 40th year celebration.

“In the year 1974, a group of teenagers walked through the tech door

Caroline, Moya, Jeannette, Patricia, Mark, Sarge and John, just to name a few

But for us it was the start of something new

Mr Maher the principal, with his teachers by his side, read out a list of rules that we all had to abide.

“The day soon came and once again we walked through that door,

It was 1979 and we would return no more.

The memories of that time, that is long in the past

In each of our hearts they will always last.

“It was filled with laughter and with some tears

But our time in the Tech, they were the best years.”

The school reunion was an evening filled with laughter and memories and was a perfect way to celebrate 40 years since finishing secondary school.