Mystery of Mayo school burning explored in new book

One of the great mysteries of life in Castlebar - the burning of the local boys national school at Chapel Street in 1957 – is explored, albeit in a fictional fashion, in Peter Killeen's wonderful book of short stories, Friends of My Youth.

The book was launched recently by his son, Professor Jarlath Killeen, Trinity College, who described his father's work as a revealing insight into ‘what people got up to’ as teenagers growing up in Castlebar in the 1950s.

“This era is often portrayed as a boring, dark, tragic and an almost horrific period in Irish life – apart from the emergence of the Teddy Boys fad inspired by the film, 'Rock around the Clock',” he noted.

However, Peter's book points to a period of Irish life in which friendships, teenage romances and being imaginative in the use of your time were so integral.

Remember, as Peter cited in his introduction, there was no television, few house phones, computers were unheard of and there was no such thing as social media.

Peter opted for a relatively modest print run and all books were virtually all sold out on the night of the launch in Bridge St., Castlebar.

However, a limited number of extra copies will become available in January if everything goes according to plan.

Returning to the opening paragraph of this piece, one of Peter's fifteen short stories, entitled 'Chocolate Bars and a Sally Rod', gives a fictional account of how one of two boxes of chocolates allegedly stolen from a local grocery shop had ended up in the cupboard of a classroom at the boys national school – leading to an investigation into the matter in which all the boys from fourth, fifth and sixth classes were questioned but the mystery was never solved.

A month after the incidents, which also involved the cutting up of a sally rod, linked, it would appear, to corporal punishment, the school burned down.

“Doubts remain about how the fire started!” the tale ended.

An electrical fault was always believed to be the reason why, but maybe it was not!

This is just a tidy flavour of Peter's fine book, the first, hopefully, of many by the skilled author.