HOLIDAY MEMORIES

HOLIDAY MEMORIES (John McCourt.)

I returned from a most enjoyable three months leave in Ireland at the beginning of November. By then the weather in Ireland and the rest of Europe was beginning to get a bit too cold for my liking and so it was nice to get back to the heat of Barotseland once more. As I got back into the swing of life here in Mongu I began to unpack many of the lovely memories I took back with me from my holiday. There were great gatherings of family, friends and brothers to think over. 

However, one occasion that stands out very prominently for me was the official opening of the Abbey CBS Grammar School in Newry. All brothers, still living, who had lived in Newry were invited for the occasion, which took place on October 1^st. As I had been in Newry for five years prior to coming to Zambia in 1976, I was only too happy to accept the invitation. The old school building had become much too small for the present school population and so it was decided to build a completely new campus.  There was no available space at the old site and thus it was necessary to move to a completely new location on the northern side of the town. With a huge grant from the Department of Education, Belfast, the new Abbey stands on its new site and is indeed a great credit to all involved in the planning and building of the new school. Driving in through the main school gates one is immediately struck by the beauty and design of the new building. It is quite breath-taking.

All invited guests were taken on a guided tour of the entire school building and all were duly impressed with the state of the art furnishings and equipment in all departments of the school. It must be a joy to work in such an environment. The school has now got fine all-weather sports fields as well as a gymnasium. But as the Headmaster, Mr. Dermot McGovern, remarked, it is the spirit that permeates the building and not the building itself which makes the Abbey what it is in reality. That is the spirit which has been handed down from the time of the founding brothers back in 1851 right up to the present. A number of artefacts from the old site have been incorporated into the new building, among them the doors of the brothers’ oratory, the stain glass widows from the same oratory, the statue of Mary and the stone plaque from was part of the original school building from the nineteenth century. The central part of the building comprises the library, the staff room and the oratory, reminding one of the traditional structure of a Monastic Abbey, where community room, library and chapel were central.

During a prayer service, which formed part of the official opening ceremony, a number of symbols were presented, among them being the Zambian flag. The Abbey CBS Newry has been part of the immersion programme for schools in Ireland for quite some time now and  they base themselves in Livingstone when they come here. Many who are part of the Abbey school community would maintain that the immersion programme is the best thing that has happened the school in years and hence the presenting of the Zambian flag during the service. I was very proud that Zambia got such a mention on this historic occasion for the Abbey CBS in Newry.