MARY IMMACULATE SECONDARY School will celebrate its 75th anniversary this Sunday.
A mass to commemorate the rich history and celebrate the community will take place at 2pm on Sunday in Corpus Christi Church, Lisdoonvarna. This will be followed by a return to the secondary school and a dinner dance at 6pm at The Falls Hotel.
Founded in 1949 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mary Immaculate Secondary School has been a beacon of education in the Burren Region. From their beginnings in Tivoli House to becoming one of the first co-educational voluntary secondary schools in Ireland, it has shaped generations of students.
Tickets are on sale through Eventbrite on maryimmaculate.ie, from the school reception and also in local shops Jordans Mace, Lisdoonvarna, Ballyvaughan Service Station and Howley’s Shop in Kilfenora.
Sean Frawley was the first boy to sit his Leaving Certificate in Mary Immaculate Secondary School in 1958. He recalled, “I transferred to Mary Immaculate from the Monastery Ennistymon in 1955. After one year, it was great news for me not to have to travel eight miles in wintery weather. That was the year the school became co-ed. I was put into third year and the only boy in my Inter class and thereafter. I joined a lovely group of girls. My parents had decided that I would end secondary school after Inter Cert. But, Mother Kevin and Sister Margaret Mary visited my home and convinced my parents to let me continue. I am forever grateful for that decision”.
Phrases from his teachers are remembered fondly, almost seven decades later. “All my teachers were nuns with the exception of one priest and they were wonderful. I considered Sister Margaret Mary outstanding. A very tough and sometimes feisty disciplinarian, she brought out the best in me and most likely all her students. My favourite expression of hers was ‘I have to be cruel only to be kind’. I still remember that 66 years later. Her English classes were the best and especially Shakespeare plays. I still can quote most of Hamlet line by line”.He left for New York in 1958 after completing the Leaving Cert. “I went to University nights for six years and had a successful career in book publishing. That would not have happened had I not completed Secondary School. Thank you Sister Margaret Mary. I have always bragged how proud I am to be the first boy to graduate from that now famous school Mary Immaculate Lisdoonvarna”.
Sr Maura Crowe pointed out that around the time of the school’s foundation that “Lisdoonvarna was unique in so many ways and was especially famed for its rich Spa waters which boasted such health-giving benefits as magnesia, iron, iodine, sulphur, to name but a few, and anyone seeking a ‘cure for arthritis or an improvement in their footwork as they trip the light fantastic, were advised to take the Spa water. But there was something more needed and into the breach in 1949 came the Sisters of Mercy from Ennistymon, women of prayer, vision and enthusiasm who would dedicate themselves to serving the people. Up to then one had to go to boarding school for secondary education or cycle many miles to the nearest secondary school”.
She said, “One can only imagine the joy amongst the people when the three Sisters of Mercy set up a Post-Primary school for girls in Tivoli House in 1949. In 1955, Bishop Michael Browne requested that the school become Co-educational, a development that was inspirational and innovative in its time”.
Sr Maura recalled, “I had the privilege of being Chairperson of the Board of Management for twenty seven years since 1989 and experienced a Community school in the best sense of the word. This was very evident to me when I was enjoying the Diamond Jubilee celebrations ten years ago and the late much loved Sr. Margaret Mary was very anxious that all would go to plan. I watched as she raised her index finger, called her past-pupils of fifty to sixty years previous by name”.
