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The organising committee for the CBS The Green Class of 1968 Reunion on Friday at the school. Front from left; Padraig Ó Moráin, Fionán O’Connell, Principal of CBS Anne O’Callaghan, Johnny Conway, Fr Sean Hanafin. Back from left; Deputy Principal Robert O’Flaherty, Francie McSweeney, Brother James Whelan, Billy Ryle and Conor Fitzgerald. Photo by Dermot Crean
STORIES were told, old friendships renewed and deceased classmates remembered as the CBS The Green Class of 1968 met up again on Friday 50 years after leaving the school.
There were 27 former students — out of the 60 who made up the two Leaving Cert classes of 1968 — present on the day, which began with a tour around their alma mater which has changed so much in 50 years.
Later that evening there was a Mass in St John’s Church to remember the eight pupils who have passed away over the years.
The mass was concelebrated by Monsignor Sean Hanafin, former Dean of Tralee and Rev Paul Lawlor of the Dominician Order, both of whom were part of the 1968 class. The mass was followed by a meal in the St John’s parochial hall.
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Johnny Conway explained how the reunion came about when TraleeToday.ie called down to the school on Friday afternoon.
“The organising committee started contacting people about three months ago. The person who has travelled from furthest away is Paudie Tangney who came back from Arizona, but there’s people who have come from Dublin and Cork,” said Johnny, who recalled what school was like in 1968.
“It was an education back then. There was no such thing as points and if you didn’t have the money for university you didn’t go. The guards, banks and civil service were the jobs you’d go for. The exams at the end weren’t the be all and end all as they are portrayed for students today,” said Johnny.
Another pupil, Padraig Ó Moráin, came back to become a teacher in CBS The Green.
“I started teaching here in 1980 after being in Rathmore and in the old tech in Tralee prior to that. I moved down here because I wanted to introduce technical drawing here,” said Padraig who spent a number of years in Africa teaching in between his stints in CBS.
One of the organisers, former pupil, Billy Ryle, paid tribute to his classmate, the late Tom O’Halloran, who passed away in November 2016. Tom was a former Chairperson of the Board of Management and Billy said he would have been on the organising committee for the reunion as he had a great grá for CBS The Green.
It was a special day for the men who caught up after so many years. Scroll down for photos…
The CBS The Green Class of 1968 Reunite on Friday at the school. Also included is teacher at the time Tom Baker, Brother Whelan, current Principal Anne O’Callaghan and Deputy Principal Robert O’Flaherty. Photo by Dermot Crean
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Padraig Ó Moráin and Paudie Tangney at the CBS The Green Class of 1968 Reunion on Friday at the school. Photo by Dermot Crean
Former teacher Tom Baker and former pupil Fr Paul Lawlor at the CBS The Green Class of 1968 Reunion on Friday at the school. Photo by Dermot Crean
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Fionán O’Connell, Francie McSweeney, Brother Whelan and Billy Ryle at the CBS The Green Class of 1968 Reunion on Friday at the school. Photo by Dermot Crean
John O’Shea, Tom O’Sullivan and John Rice at the CBS The Green Class of 1968 Reunion on Friday at the school. Photo by Dermot Crean
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Willie O’Connor, Noel McCarthy, Sean Spillane and Fr Sean Hanafin at the CBS The Green Class of 1968 Reunion on Friday at the school. Photo by Dermot Crean
