College hosts annual grandparents' day

SHILLINGS AND pence met euro and cent in a north Dublin school yesterday when students brought their grandparents to class for a day.

Castleknock Community College hosted its 10th annual Grandparents’ Day when first years invited their grandparents or other older relatives to sit in on a day at school.

The college also linked via Skype to Leitir National School, Islandeady, Castlebar, Co Mayo, where National Grandparents’ Day in primary schools was launched. Skype is is a software package that allows users to make calls over the internet.

The Castleknock college also honoured a number of older people for their contribution to subsequent generations, including actor Robert Carrickford and writer Maeve Binchy who were given the title of honorary Lifetime National Grandparent.

Kitty Parkes Ledden, who travelled from Leopardstown Park Hospital for the event, was given a humanitarian award by the school. She worked in the White Swan Laundry and helped organise a strike among laundresses in 1945. The action, though strongly opposed by employers, resulted in two weeks’ annual holidays for the women and eventually for all women working in the state.

Una Hayden, co-founder of Grandparents Obliterated, an organisation that succeeded in securing access rights for grandparents to estranged grandchildren, was also honoured, as was community and human rights activist Cathleen O’Neill.

Catherine Rose, founder of feminist publishing company Arlen House, received an award, along with Mamo McDonald, cathaoirleach of Age Opportunity, Sylvia Meehan from the Council for the Status of Women and Mahin Sefidvash, co-founder of the Irish Refugee Council.

Normally dominated by over 1,000 hormonally charged teenagers, Castleknock college was overrun with what the scheme’s organiser Mary Ryan called “third-agers”. They sat in on English, Maths, Spanish, History and Irish, helping their grandchildren and chipping in the odd bit of information for the teachers’ benefit.

In Alan Kiernan’s maths class, all sorts of information was being imparted, about the price of a loaf of bread in old money, how milk was delivered in a churn instead of in litres and how shopping was acquired with ration coupons instead of credit cards.

The students were agog at the idea that tea might come in ounces and not in bags.

In geography, Martin Early said the school was a far cry from his own in Clifden, Connemara.

“It was very, very strict; they taught with the cane,” he said.

Sam Macintosh seemed delighted to have his 80-year-old grandmother to help him with maps. And Eva Macintosh, who went to strict Loreto nuns in Leeson Lane, Dublin, in her day, thought the atmosphere in the school was great.

Ms Ryan said she was hopeful the scheme would catch on in primary and secondary schools around the country. A website to that end has been developed in conjunction with the Mayo school, www.grandparentsdayinschool.ie, which offers advice for other schools who wish to take part.