Beginnings

Michael Myers
Courtesy of Gaile National School.

Gaile School lies between the villages of Holycross, Boherlahan, Horse and Jockey and Littleton. Therefore, children from several different parishes are students there. When the school first opened its doors on 3 September 1900, thirty-one boys and sixteen girls joined up.

By the end of that month alone, there were forty-six boys and twenty-seven girls attending the school. All of these were looked after by one teacher, Mr Michael Myers. Mr Myers had to deal with over seventy students, spread over eight classes, so one can only imagine that there was occasional mayhem!

However, Mr Myers was never far away from the action, as he lived in a house built especially for him next door to the school.