Interview
with a previous school teacher from Ballygowan.
- How
long have you lived in Ballygowan? Since 1963
- What
schools where in Ballygowan when you taught? More country(rural)
schools. Before my time several had closed.
- How
many in this area? Ballycloughan and Carrickmannon, Ballykeigle back
then were open,
also Magherscouse Primary on Magherascouse Road. In 1974 it closed.
- How
many pupils where in a class? Two classrooms p1-p3 and p4-7 in other
room, the numbers dwindled towards the end.
- What
subjects where taught? The small school couldn’t compete with
biggers schools. We had no telephones, science equipment,
PE facilities, and certainly no computers. The school hours would have
been the same. There was a problem with teaching
a wide age range of pupils. Very little science, no specialist music
teachers. PE teachers also. There was also just one teacher in
each classroom, no classroom assistants like today. Stove in the room
to keep place warm, cleaner would come in to light the stove.
That was another job we had to do to keep it going. School dinners
were brought in from an outside school,
or children brought a packed lunch.
- What
way would a school day have gone? At the start of the day, three
mornings a week we had an assembly,
we all gathered in one classroom and sung hymns, We tried to have a
sports day, we had a small yard, or playground for that.
Egg and spoon races, flat races, sack race, parents attended of
course, cash prize for winners. There wasn’t so much emphasise
on health and safety or on child protection like nowadays. No school
bus either, children were left off by parents in cars, or walked
there.
- How
has Ballygowan changed? A lot more houses and the shops have changed,
shops become more modern.
- What
about the church? Ballygowan Presbyterian has modernised. The
powerpoint and the screens.
- What
is your earliest recollection of the Church building ‘The Time Is
Short’? The church built on the back, a new hall in 1981.
There is an old caretakers residence in the hall not even used but
mostly the rooms would be used for BB, GB, and Sunday school.
There is a large hall upstairs and the lecture room and a lot of
smaller halls. Recently the church was updated and the fire
alarm
system was updated by the church.
Alex
Dickson was once in the church hall, known as Ballygowan school before
they had their own building.
It was built on land given to the school board by Alexander Dickson a
local councillor. With the request it was named after him.
Dickson Park is also named after him. He owned Ardmore House, and all that
was his land, the grange, manor etc.
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