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St Mary’s CBG School
The origins of St Mary’s Grammar School are traced back to 1966 when building approval was granted for this site.
These playing fields which are located at the back were no doubt one of the best investments for the school. And although standing here may seem akin to reaching the top of Everest even on a sunny day these magnificent facilities do at least allow the school to rightly claim to be one of the best equipped if not in the whole country at least in Ulster.
However, this story actually goes back much further when Louis Caton, Thomas Neaton, Alipius Maguire and John Ennis arrived in Belfast on behalf of the Christian Brothers to establish their first school in Divis Street on 3rd of November 1866.
From the start the Brothers were quite literally homeless and penniless, but they managed to raise enough finances to kick start this educational venture as well as build themselves a proper residence. As a result of their great success more Christian Brothers arrived the following year to open another school in Donegall Street.
This is called the Edmund Rice Building after he founded the Christian Brother Order. Classrooms here are mainly dedicated to modern subjects such as cooking and social etiquette although there are of course still some traditional ones like art and craft design.
‘Having established several schools one community of the Christian Brothers took up residence in 'Somerton Lodge', Somerton Road and the other in ‘Airfield House’ on the Glen Road. Airfield House was the former home of the brewer, Thomas Caffrey. It had been sold to the Bishop for £5,500, who sold it to the Brothers for the same amount. The sum required was realised by the sale of the College Wing for £3,500 and £3,640 for the houses in Fleetwood Street. In May 1947 the Superior Brother John V. Mullins and twelve Brothers took up residence.’1 Incidentally, the house was demolished and replaced by a housing development now known as Airfield Heights.
Another feather in St Mary’s cap is this building which contains an indoor swimming pool built in 1970. A fully equipped weights gym and even a basketball court next to the building leaves the impression that there are few sports not actually catered for here.
A quick but by no means exhaustive list on some of the more well known past pupils here include: the President of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, Professor of History at UCD, Thomas Bartlett, the Right Rev. Monsignor Thomas Bartley, author Ronan Bennett, Gerry Burns OBE, Professor & Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Ciarán Carson, Pat Finucance, Dean of Science at Trinity College, Professor Emeritus, historian and journalist Dr. Eamon Phoenix and the Bishop of Down & Connor, Patrick Walsh.
Before entering the main building a brief tour via the kitchen into the dining and assembly hall provides an insight into the only areas where pupils meet together in large numbers. This also happens to be where the plain internal decor has been given a slight boost as it proudly displays a selection of pupils art work above the windows.
This assembly hall is where the more dramatic element of the school is honed and carefully staged. There is no official chapel on the grounds so this small religious altar at the back is used for school ceremonies.
The main entrance round at the front of the building leads into a small foyer. Bulletin boards and medal cupboards on display here illustrate quite clearly a healthy history of winning and participation in many sporting and cultural events.
The extensive grounds here certainly afforded the Christian Brothers to accept no boundaries. Within a short period of their initial surge to encourage education school attendance rose to 690. ‘A new and unrestricted site was required to build a new school. Land in the neighbourhood of 'Airfield' became available and was acquired for £12,000 in May 1959... In 1966 final approval was given for the building of the new St. Mary's Grammar School on the Glen Road site. Building started soon afterwards. The new school was occupied in September 1968 with 1,320 on rolls, 202 remaining in Barrack Street. However, the Art Rooms and Gymnasium were not ready until January 1969.’2
Although St Mary’s is still under the trusteeship of the Christian Brothers there are no Brothers currently serving on the staff. However, even if their presence is no longer felt here their legacy reflected in the monumental effort required to create this school is secure for many more years to come.
References
1 http://www.stmaryscbgs.com/about_the_school/view_content.asp?id=45
2 As above.
External Links
http://www.stmaryscbgs.com/home/home.asp
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