Sir, – Recent reports in The Irish Times reminded me of the heavy snowfall in February 1947. I was a nine-year-old primary schoolboy at the Christian Brothers School in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, at the time. We awoke that morning to find in excess of one feet of snow covering the whole area. There was a long pathway leading from Upper Cork Street to the school beside the monastery and the Brothers tasked the caretaker to dig a channel down the pathway to provide access to the school for the pupils. I will never forget the look on the face of the caretaker as he watched every boy ignore the channel which he had provided with much effort and march through the deep snow to the school. We wore short trousers and knee socks in those days and of course, the socks and boots were saturated. Our teacher, Mr O’Callaghan, took us through our lessons that day as our socks and boots dried out on the central heating pipes. Happy days. – Yours, etc,
TONY GREANY,
Mornington,
Co Meath.