Athy's Shackleton School always has top-class speakers

RYAN Tubridy arrived in Athy last Friday to open the Shackleton Autumn School. In its 26th year of existence the school has welcomed many interesting individuals, all leaders in their own right who have graced us with their presence.

I can recall in the early years welcoming Fintan O’Toole, Brian Keenan, Kevin Myers, David Norris and many others, and the man who drew the largest crowd, the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins.

In those far-off days, I remember reminding our guest speakers that they had to speak on any topic they wished for 15 to 20 minutes. One man I forgot to advise beforehand was David Norris, who nevertheless rose to the occasion and held the audience spellbound.

The only female we had over the 26 years of the school was the journalist Grania Willis, who was the first Irish woman to scale Mount Everest by its more demanding North Ridge.

To return to the 26th autumn school opening which took place in the Shackleton Museum (forgive me if I still use this name that the Heritage Board bestowed on it some years ago). Our guest was Ryan Tubridy, who was making a return visit to the museum. He spoke with delightful engagement which held our audience’s interest throughout. His words proved particularly interesting, delivered as they were with charm and good wit.

An excellent evening, therefore, helped by an unusual yet generous catering menu planned and prepared by Graham Herterich and his staff.

It is sad for me to note the absence of some of those men and women who came to previous Shackleton Schools. The 26 years that have passed have left a few regular attendees unable to be with us this year. Nevertheless, there was an excellent attendance of Irish visitors, as well as representatives from Canada, Brazil, America, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Norway and the UK.

I was particularly impressed by the large group of young people who arrived from America. Their presence at the Shackleton Autumn School confirmed, if confirmation was required, that the school is an internationally important event.

It was wonderful to hear the museum’s manageress, Aline FitzGerald, advise of the 30,000 visitors to the museum in its first year. This exceeded all reasonable expectations, and importantly the feedback from these visitors was hugely positive.

Well done to the present organisers of the Shackleton Autumn School, Kevin Kenny, Seamus Taaffe, Mark McClean and Sven Habermann, who as a group and individually have yet again performed a first-class job in organising this year’s school.

On Saturday next, 31 October, the ARCH on the Kilkenny Road will be the venue for the Lions Club Book Fair, which this year will also include a vinyl and CD fair. This will be the first time that book dealers will be joined by music dealers. Doors open from 10am and the fair finishes at 4pm. Admission is free. All monies made by the Lions Club during the fair goes to local charities.

While mentioning Athy Lions Club and local charities, might I also draw your attention to the annual Lions Food Appeal which this year takes place on 26, 27 and 28 November. While the term ‘food appeal’ is still used to describe the collection, in fact it is a money collection to enable the local St Vincent de Paul Society to purchase food for needy families throughout the year.

It would appear that greater demands are made each year on the local St Vincent de Paul Society as more and more families are caught out financially by rising prices in so many aspects of day-to-day life. As of now, it is planned to have the collection point outside Pettitt’s supermarket, which will be manned by members of the local Lions Club. Our thanks to Pettitt’s management team, who every year have allowed the Lions Club and the St Vincent de Paul Society to arrange the food appeal collection at their premises.

Athy Lions Club is a member of the Lions Club International, the largest charitable organisation in the world. Members of the Lions Club meet once a month in the Clanard Court Hotel. Membership of the club is always open to those who would like to serve their community and anyone interesting in joining should contact any member of the society or James Reeves, who is the current president of Athy Lions Club.

I am planning the launch of vol V of Athy’s Eye on the Past, hopefully before the forthcoming Christmas. I am looking for photographs to be included in the book and wonder if any of my readers can help me with photographs of Tom Carbery, who was a councillor in Athy UDC and Kildare County Council, and Jim Brosnan, whom I refer to in my article as ‘An Spailpin Fanach’.

Eye on the Past No 1764