This Boarding Life

Brendan Bracken writes: I grew up in Dublin but was sent to board in Roscrea at the age of 12. It was quite a change of scene for a city boy.

There was a great mix of fellows there and I learned a lot about life outside Dublin. I learned independence too. After spending five years with all sorts of people, I grew quite relaxed in new company, as long as it was male. For six years I had practically no contact with girls.

Boarding school was a very different place then. We used to rise at 6.30 a.m. and wash in cold water. It was tough, but we didn't know anything else. The monks from the Abbey used to make the most wonderful bread for us but the rest of the food was not so wonderful.

I wasn't sporty, but I developed a great love of books and theatre at school. We used to perform a Shakespeare play every year - a professional director would come down from Dublin. We dressed up the boys for the female roles.

By the time I finished school I felt very independent - I had my own life. The Cistercian College was an interesting place. Dick Spring, Brian Cowan, Conor Brady and David Andrews all went there. Our abbot, Dom Eugene Boylan, was involved in splitting the atom in Italy before he came to Ireland. He was quite stylish and used to wear suede shoes. The monks were surprisingly liberal.

I wouldn't send my own kids to boarding school because there are plenty of day school options close to home and and I enjoy being with them and seeing them grow up. Still, if circumstanced were different I'd have no hesitation. They were very happy times for me.

Brendan Bracken is director of Bracken Public Relations and was a pupil of the Cistercian College, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, from 1959 to 1964.