To mark 100 years educating the children of Fermanagh, Jones Memorial Primary School in Enniskillen are holding a number of events over the coming months as part of their Centenary Celebrations. The first of these was an official ceremony at the school on Friday last.
The ceremony to mark the school's 100 years (1907 - 2007) was attended by various local dignitaries and, also, very special guests including several former pupils and staff members.
These included former Principal Jim Kerr, former teacher Miss Beatrice Crawford, the Ven Archdeacon Cecil Pringle, Father Brian D'Arcy, Rector of the Graan and special guest, and former pupil, the Right Rev David Chillingworth.
The beginnings of the school are enshrined in the last will and testament of one, Michael Obins Jones of Lisgoole Abbey, who died on 2nd June 1878.
It bequeathed 'One Irish plantation acre which I reserve for the purpose of having a Bible school erected thereon and upon which I direct three thousand pounds to be expended out of the sale of my property in building and endowing and keeping up the same. The schoolmaster from time to time to be appointed and removable by my said trustees and the incumbent Parish of Rossorry.'
In 1907, the Jones Memorial Bible School was duly opened near the entrance to Lisgoole Abbey and the rest, as they say, is history.
In his address, the Right Rev Bishop David Chillingworth, who is now based in the Diocese of St. Andrews in Scotland recalled the year, 1954 when he attended the old Jones Memorial School.
She was a lovely lady but she terrified me. She was known as 'Peach'
'There were about 80 pupils in three classrooms. The numbers of pupils were entered on a blackboard. Miss Crawford wore a pleated skirt and Mr Whittaker drove a blue Morris Minor. There was a third teacher, Miss Semple. She was a lovely lady but she terrified me. She was known as 'Peach'
"And there was Mrs Black who dished up school dinners in the old Army hut in the wood and it was always semolina. And Mr Hicks who drove the school bus."
Bishop Chillingworth said he owed a lot to people like Beatrice Crawford and Norman Whittaker 'who taught me all sorts of things, 'even though I didn't realise it and certainly didn't know that I should be grateful'.
Beatrice Crawford was the young David Chillingworth's first teacher and, he explained, she was only in her second year in the school. And, he revealed, they hadn't met from the day he left the school until last Friday.
The Bishop paid tribute to the teachers in the school, from the ones he remembered (and their predecessors) right up to, and including the current Principal, Sandra Isherwood and her staff.
"I want to highlight the debt that people like me owe to people like them. They gave so much of themselves to give us a great opportunity."
The Bishop explained that his father taught in Portora and that the family lived at Old Rossorry. He remembered Jones Memorial as being a 'close-knit school' which he said provided a good foundation for a Christian upbringing.
"It is a great privilege", he concluded, " to be able to come back here and to get the opportunity to say thank-you to the school, and those who taught me, some 50 years ago".
Following the various speeches and messages of welcome, a number of presentations were made before the Garden Party was officially opened.
Centenary Celebrations continue on Friday 28th September when there will be a 'Service of Thanksgiving in Rossorry Parish Church. Other events coming before the end of the year include a Centenary Ball and Christmas Concert.
