Chalk Talk Special: Who remembers the 'Crying Room' in St Oliver's Church

The graduation class of 1982 spent 5th and 6th class in The Crying Room’.

Sound proof glass meant the daily 9.30am masses were not heard in the classroom, and blinds / curtains blocked the view of the Altar. Many of the pupils’ Mammies were present in the congregation at the 9.30am weekday masses, which felt a bit weird.

An electric wire was strung from the main school to the church to allow announcements be heard over the intercom’ (Mr Howard ).

Some of the boys in the class were also Altar boys and sometimes had to excuse themselves from class to serve at an occasional 10 am funeral mass, with the understanding they would come straight back to class when it finished!

Cleaning of the classroom was the responsibility of the pupils and I remember using an old fashioned manual carpet cleaner to ‘hoover’ the dark brown industrial grade ‘carpet’.

The heating sometimes didn't come on in the Crying Room, and one of the teachers installed a thermometer, which when it dropped below 18 degrees celsius, classes were ended short that day!

- Sean McGrath