'The Troubles were in full fling at this time and we learnt not to allow the children out to the toilet unaccompanied, as they would be off to loot, if they heard a bomb going off.'

'The Troubles were in full fling at this time and we learnt not to allow the children out to the toilet unaccompanied, as they would be off to loot, if they heard a bomb going off.'

Rosemary remembers teaching in St Malachy's Boys School on the New Lodge Road in Belfast.

Rosemary McCloskey

Trinity College Dublin

1972

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Rosemary McCloskey

Work and Employment

Life Story

New Lodge Road, Belfast

1970's

My next job was in St Malachy's Boys' Primary school on the New Lodge Road where I had a Primary One class. This job was an answer to my mother's prayers. I got it because Fr Brendan McMullan who was a curate in St Patrick's at the time, could not get an infant teacher for the school. One Sunday when he was at home for his dinner, with his mother and family, he happened to mention this to his sister, Roisin, and her husband, Vincent Borland. Roisin told him that I had no job, and later that afternoon I had a phone call from Vincent asking me to get in touch with Fr Brendan. Next day another reply came from St Anthony's Primary School, Millfield, calling me for interview, but since I had spoken to Fr Brendan, I declined the offer of Millfield. I had happy times in this little school. My mentor and friend was Mrs Maeve Cregan who taught the Primary Two class. Pearse Hegarty RIP was the principal. Suffice it to say that he was quite an eccentric character. I sent him a note one day requesting permission to leave school early for a dental appointment and the note came back with 'Not guilty' written on it. That left me none the wiser!Mrs Cregan warned me never to tell the children I would like anything specific, as it was sure to appear in a day or two, having been purloined from the Coop in York Street. The Troubles were in full fling at this time and we learnt not to allow the children out to the toilet unaccompanied, as they would be off to loot, if they heard a bomb going off. There was a lot of stuff from Belfast Cooperative flooding the New Lodge after that store was bombed.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)