By Will Ryan
Transcript
Cashel Town has always been a special place for me. When I was younger, our family would regularly visit my Mam’s Dad and siblings at 8 Treacy Villas on the Green. We’d also call on my Uncle Aengus, Auntie Joan and cousins in Ladyswell Street. It was a big deal coming in from the countryside and playing on the Green or running down to the shop for sweets. Auntie Kathleen worked across the road in Our Lady’s Hospital, the place where my Mam started her career as a nurse.
Grandad William and Uncle Liam were harness makers and had a workshop on the Main Street where “Coffee @104” is now. I’d walk down Agar’s Lane, getting up on the platform (now walled off) every single time and down Friar Street to Grandad’s shop. Grandad smoked a pipe and I can still “smell” that unique mixture of pipe smoke and leather as I watched in awe while he worked on his high stool behind the counter bench.
As we came in the road from Clonoulty, my sister and I would watch eagle eyed for our first view of the Rock, something my own children do to this day. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the view. Every day, the skyline around the Rock is different and the many vistas of Cashel’s mighty Rock are appreciated now more than ever.
When I accepted the offer to become Principal of St John the Baptist Boys’ National School in October 2009, it just felt right. It felt as if I was “coming home”. The first thing I did on getting the news was call to my Auntie Kathleen on the Green to tell her. She laughed and smiled, and I knew she was proud.
My Mam often remarked that “the savage loves its native shore” and she never lost her love for Cashel, her hometown. Like her, I love the town and its people. Yes, my first love is out the road where I was born and bred, but I’m very proud to be able to play my part in the education of the boys who call this town their home. I’m Principal for just shy of fourteen years and everyday on the way to work as I pass my Mam’s home, I say a silent “hello” to her and ask that she looks down on me as I do my best for those in my care.
Many years ago, a group of senior boys and I called to Denis Heffernan’s house for a Digital Recollections project. We interviewed him and just before he left, he serenaded us with his party piece “Cashel My Home Town”.
I’ll leave you with the opening verse but encourage you to find Denis’s version on YouTube. A triumph.
“If you were born in Cashel, oh picture how you’d feel
The famous Rock, the King Cormac’s sceach and the skittles on the Green
The dear kind friends I’ve grown to love that would never let you down
I was always keen on the Red and Green
In Cashel My Home Town.”