07. Ballinruane New School

Ballinruane New School.

In the late 1940s movements were afoot to build a new school in Ballinruane to cater for an ever growing young population and to replace the existing old school. On July 3rd 1950 a notice from Mr. J. Tyrell, Secretary of the Office of Public Works placed a notice in the Tuam Herald seeking tenders for the building of a new school. Plans could be viewed at the home of the then Parish Priest of Menlough, Rev. Fr. J.R. Moran or could be obtained for a fee of £1 from the Office of Public Works. The new school was open to students from 1952. This was a major advance of the existing adjacent facility as it was based on two classrooms, two cloakrooms with running water and hand washing facilities, entrance hall, outdoor sheds for boys and girls, outdoor boys and girls dry toilets and a shed for storing turf for classroom fires. The site was one acre and twenty four perches and included a large playing field. The original trustees were Most Rev. Dr. Walsh, Rev. Fr. Mooney and Rev. Fr. Moran. This site was originally owned by John and Catherine Hansberry and life goes a full cycle sometimes as today their grand daughter Caroline and her husband Jason Roche have purchased the school and site with a view to converting it to domestic use.

In a well documented series of events the school sadly closed its door in 2001 with remaining students relocating to other nearby schools. A complete history of the school is contained in the publication Until Gooseberries Grow on a Tongs. This title comes from a time in the early 1900s when the idea of a school was first discussed and the curate in Skehana wanted the school build in Windfield, which had a large concentration of children, and would not be in Ballinruane “until gooseberries grow on a tongs”. The parish priest held a different view as geographically he felt the Ballinruane site would cater better for pupils from other townlands. He had a stone mason carve out these words on a stone in the original school wall and that stone survives to this day.