A CROWD of about 500 people gathered in Our Lady and St Brendan’s Church on Friday evening for a special celebration to mark the 150th anniversary of Listellick National School.

Bishop Ray Browne was the chief celebrant assisted by 12 other clergymen and the Listellick choir provided an excellent musical accompaniment to the proceedings.

There were hundreds of past pupils there including Margaret Neenan who started school in 1925 and Tom Nealon who began his schooldays in 1928. They both received a special presentation to mark the occasion.

Principal Annette Dineen spoke of her immense pride to be principal at this time. She thanked all involved in the night including  clergy, parents’ council, choir, pupils, the 150 committee, staff from the school and past pupils.

It was also the perfect time to launch the magnificent book detailing the history of Listellick school, compiled by a committee headed by former principal, Micheal O Cinnéide.

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“It was lovely to see such a crowd here,” said Micheál, speaking after the Mass. “This is just the start of a year of celebration for the setting up Listellick. The launching of the book was the pinnacle for me because I was heavily involved in it.”

The book has been a long time in gestation.

“The idea first surfaced in my head about ten years ago because I could see the date looming. I proposed it and followed up on it, but the real work began about 10 months ago. The hardest part for me was transcribing about 3,500 names from registers and roll books on to a computer. But we got it done,” said Micheál.

“We had a huge amount of help from past pupils and people from the area. It was just lovely. There’s great stories and loads of photographs. As they say, every picture tells a story and that’s certainly true in this case,” said Micheál.

He’s not wrong. Flicking through the book, the quality of the photos is amazing and it’s a book no past pupil should be without. You better act quick though as the 500 that were printed are likely to be gone soon.

“We don’t think that there’ll be too many after tonight, but they’ll be on sale at the school if there’s any left. It’ll be a treasured item for those who have it,” said Micheál.

Scroll down for photos…