The annual procession at Artane School 1925

[Andrew Brennan]

The annual procession at Artane School. Ireland.

June 18 1925

Little children walk along followed by priests and altar boys. Little
girls in white dresses walk along followed by schoolboys. Priests carry
a canopy, some walk under it and others swing incense at it. The
priests kneel before the altar.

THE ANNUAL PROCESSION AT ARTANE SCHOOL

[Andrew Brennan]

Eating paper was a habit that stayed with me long after I left those places. I used to chew the corners of the pages of my schoolbooks, which led to many beatings by Mrs Hayes in St. Pats in Kilkenny.  I remember one beating in particular when she was so vigorous her false teeth fell out.  I got a few extra boxes from her for laughing at that.

[pauline jackson]

Did you ever try chalk. i did. my bits of newspapers were sauced by ink but poor you yours were sauced with sweat from all the page turners. we used to eat leaves too. I had a good laugh about the false teeth jumping out of the teachers mouth. ha ha. What an angry lot thay were . no wonder our childhood memories seem so depressing but its up to us what we do with them .

[Patrick Rice]

Sorry for the delay in answering, but I've been having a bad period in my recovery after major surgery for Gastric Cancer.

No, I did not have English blood. The Irish Church State was a very sick inward looking society. Amnesty's International Report going back decades on child abuse in Ireland was published in late September, is aptly titled; 'In Plain Sight'. It hold society in general responsible for what happened. I whole heart-fully agree that people knew what was happening but chose to look the other way.

I'm sure the family I never got to know, and only recently researched were typical of many families throughout the land. My birth mother I've learned was forced into marriage because she became pregnant. After the 'wedding' she was disowned by her family: her parents, two sisters and four brothers, never to see them again. No doubt there are many off springs by the name of Doyle to whom I'm related that are still living in Dublin.

It is beyond my comprehension how any parent, brother or sister could abandon one of there own and her children. It is all the more cruel when one considers that my birth mother suffered the loss of two of her children in a period of two weeks, in late Oct early Nov of 1930 in Cork Street hospital. One boy was nine and a half months old,  the other was two and a half years old. There was no support or compassion from her family in a time of need. It was as though she was dead.

The Religious Orders and that sick society taught me well. Their example was to be avoided at all costs. Animals provided a better example in how to care for their young. They were not people to be looked up to, but rather to be avoided at all costs. Thank God I discovered the true meaning of love that enriched my life.   

[pauline jackson]

hello patriick. i hope you are feeling better. it sounds like a differcult time. you know i think that the arrival in homes of television opened a door to other ways of seeing things. but you know the church is still very powerfull in ireland. in spite of all the proof that thay dont know a thing about bringing children up are still being consulted about child care in ireland.. its not only sexual abuse but also its the savage beatings that thay carried out that have destroyed so many people.and the fact that thay see something in the pain of others that makes them think that thay are right. its a dangerous combinasion. also imposing hunger on the kids that are in need is  part of thier methods. since this site is private we can write the truth about our experences. in the media its always the same stories about the same people. but this wont help the distant ones. so we can discribe the effects it has had on our lives. as adults we have had time to find out .