Memories of my school that was forced to close its doors during the trouble times in Belfast
The Theatre Rooms Of St Gabriels
By Paul McCann
Saint Gabriels had many school room and within those rooms we had teachers who played out their roles with whispers from their souls that taught us lessons and allowed us to be who we were . As school boys we were ignorant of many things but also innocent as well and many of us appreciated the teachers for who they were and what they did . Some teachers had to put up with insults everyday and rowdy lads who were not able to appreciate the what was shown to us and the gifts of learning we were receiving .
Apart from being a school teacher our English teacher Mr Brannigan was also an actor on stage and would always read to us the works of Sean O’Casey the great Irish dramatist and he produced two plays at St Gabriels “Shadow Of A Gunman and The Plough And The Stars that featured some talented students playing out their roles under the direction of Mr Brannigan , At an early age all of us had a taste of Irish literature in a living theatrical sense in our lives.
Miss Kane was our music teacher and Mr Mulvena was our PE teacher joined forces in putting together a choir in our class , For weeks we had rehearsed those three songs in German ., French and English and we performed those songs as a medley before a large audience at the Ulster Hall , coming in third place in a school competition with many other schools around Northern Ireland .
Mr Quinn our history teacher taught us lessons about being virtuous under oppression . Every day he came into his classroom and came under a barrage of abuse and insults by some students . He never had an easy time there and I’ve never forgotten the resilience and courage he showed to everyone with his calm consideration of the bad behaviour from a minority of students in the class . He had a kindness that overcame all of the harsh treatment he received ,
Mr Flynn the scient teacher taught us to be attentive and listen when he spoke as he knew students who were talking or not listening and would suddenly swivel around from the blackboard with a piece of chalk between his thumb and forefinger and throw with great accuracy the piece of chalk hitting his target right between the eyes,
As a result people learned not to talk in class . There were times one of two of the lads would answer him back and Flying Flynn as we called him would proceed to grab the students by the back of his collar and the trouser waist and hurl him across the big desks in the science classroom . There were some great theatrics everyday at Saint Gabriels and all of us benefited in many ways from the experience .
Then there was the theatre of the school assembly where we led in the morning to hear the BAT the headmaster talk to us about life at Saint Gabes and what was expected of us if we were going to survive our school days , after morning assembly the assembly had a change of props with tables and chairs being arranged to accommodate a large number of hungry boys who would some come to sit down and eat their lunch . After lunch the assembly hall would again have a change of props to present a scene for Saint Gabriels youth club who would arrive after school hours for Judo , Boxing and Badminton .
The greatest theatre of all was outside in the schoolyard where you had to be hard and fast . Some run from the bully boys others stood to fight . There weas never a dull moment . We learned to adjust and adapt , we made friends and enemies but never once did we complain . We as students of Saint Gabriels were taught many lessons and plated out our roles together .
It was more than a school , I would like to think it was a theatre of life where we passed through for only a short while .
We had teachers who showed us by their actions what we should do .
After the school closed I wrote a song and recorded it as a memory of all those who had come through the doors of Saint Gabriels our great wee school there on the front of the Crumlin Road .
Sherlyn Powell opens up about her love and devotion to her family and the overwhelming repercussion when communication breaks down. Heartbroken and distraught she learns to release her prayer and realize with faith God would reunite her family.
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The Theatre Rooms Of St Gabriels
