‘The kids are still good’

A new term began at Nenagh CBS earlier this month but notably absent was the familiar face of caretaker Jimmy White.

Hugely popular with generations of local lads to pass through the CBS, Jimmy retired in the summer after 35 years in the role of school caretaker. His working association with the CBS goes back further to 1989 when Jimmy started a FÁS scheme at the primary school. Brother John Daly was the principal at the time.

The following year, Brother Jack Casey asked him to come and do a couple of days a week at the secondary school. Little did Jimmy realise that those two days would go on to become a 35-year career.

“Jack Casey started me off as a supervisory caretaker,” he recalled. “The time for opening the school was 8.30. Some of the teachers would be in but until there was a teacher there or someone to supervise, the kids weren’t insured to come into the building. So, as I was there as a supervisory caretaker, whenever I opened up, that was it.”

Some of the boys would be dropped off earlier – 8 or even 7.45 – by parents going to work. “I started opening at those times so they wouldn’t be out in the rain. They would love to be able to come for a bit of heat on a winter’s morning.”

WATCHFUL EYE

“I was there then for supervising everything at the breaks and lunchtime. Jack Casey taught me how to look out for bullying. Over the years I got better at it… you were trying to watch out for everything.”

Jimmy spoke of how he learned to look out for young students that might vulnerable, often First Years with no friends who came to the town school from outlying country areas. “You’d be watching for those lads and hoping they were OK,” he said.

As caretaker, he was responsible for maintaining the school and cleaning up in the evening. “Then during the summertime you’d be repairing the furniture that lads broke during the year. There was no break for me in the summer. That was my busy time!”

CYCLING OUT THE GATE

One thing that many local men will associate Jimmy with the CBS in the ‘90s was cycling on the school avenue and the efforts he went to in trying to put a stop to it.

“There used to be hundreds of bicycles,” he said of the time. “We put in extra racks back in the day.

“They used to fly out to Summerhill and onto the road. Eventually, Jack Casey asked me to go out and stop them. They were told then to walk out to the gate and then get up on the bike.

“So the thing then was: ‘Where’s Jimmy? Will I get away with it?!’

“Kids will try to get away with anything. I knew that, so I was sort of playing the game with them. I know it might have looked like a game at the time but there was a huge safety aspect to it.”

Now, most of those bicycle racks have been removed because only around half a dozen pupils cycle to school.

CHANGING TIMES

But times change, and the above is just one example of the many changes Jimmy saw during his years at the CBS. The school complex has grown vastly in that time with the addition of several new classrooms, a GP room, and new provision for children with autism.

The student population fluctuated over Jimmy’s years from around 600 down to 500 and now well over 700. A sizeable proportion of the current cohort is made up of students of non-Irish nationalities, another big change that Jimmy witnessed in the latter half of his career. He told of how this also required adaptation and observance - and of how welcoming students in general have now become of new arrivals.

‘GREAT KIDS’

Indeed, a constant impression of Jimmy’s career at the school was the enduring goodness he found in the vast majority of pupils he encountered.

“There were great kids,” he said, “and I can tell you that the youth of today, the kids are still good. After 35 years up there, I’ve seen a lot of kids, and the kids are still the same over all the generations.”

Thousands of past pupils will remember Jimmy from his decades at the school. He mentions many who went on to become well-known figures nationally, even if he still remembers them as youngsters. Among them are Damian Lawlor, Cian McCormack, Alan Kelly and Ryan O’Meara.

And while none of his own sons went to the CBS secondary – “they wouldn’t come up because I was there!” – the retired caretaker has grandsons passing through the school.

FOND MEMORIES

Jimmy talks of regularly meeting past pupils of the school – grown men he does not recognise now – who stop him up to talk about their fond memories of the CBS. “It’s lovely to hear that,” he said.

He has of course an abundance of fond memories of his own. Perhaps principle among these is a time Bishop Willie Walsh came to visit the school. He joined a group of Sixth Years running in the front door to be met with reprimand from Deputy Principal Martin Hudner, cap in hand, because they were late.

“They were all coming in one day and who was in the middle of them only the bishop,” Jimmy recounted of seeing the surprise on Mr Hudner’s face. “’Oh, Your Grace, welcome’!”

“They all knew it was a bit of craic; there was no malice in it or anything like that – he just encouraged everyone to get in on time.”

Jimmy also shares wonderful reminisces of the many pranks played by students over the years, and indeed those played by one or two of the teachers.

And – similar to catching lads cycling in the avenue – he has a wealth of tales to tell about the lengths he used to go to in trying to catch pupils smoking on the school grounds. Most novel among these was the time he got up on a roof to surprise two particular individuals who had managed to evade detection for some time. Perhaps unknown to most of the apprehended smokers, Brother Casey passed their fines on to various charities at the end of the school year.

‘TIME TO GO’

Since retiring, Jimmy has busied himself with working on his house. He and his wife Ann – who many will remember from working at Harry Martin’s Eats & Treats shop on Kickham St – have been getting away more often, including a visit to Holland where their son Richard and daughter Edel have been living for many years.

For Jimmy, the hardest thing to adjust to in retirement is not having to get up so early in the morning and race against the clock. While he could have worked on, he is happy with this decision to hang up the boots when he did.

“I think I’d had enough of it. It was time to go. I enjoyed it – I had some great craic, so don’t get me wrong – but it felt that I’d got to the stage of ‘No, Jimmy; this is it. The time is right to go’.”

Big are those boots that he has left to fill for new caretaker, Michael Lynch from Ballycommon, but Jimmy said he would remain on hand to offer assistance if ever needed.

He took the opportunity to thank his wife and family for their support, and all the teachers and staff he worked with over the years, and especially the principals and deputy principals – Brother Jack Casey, Martin Hudner, Vincent Kyne, Tim Brophy, Ray Cowan, Danny Grace, Tony Slattery, Karen O’Donnell and Dermot Brislane.

A retirement get-together for Jimmy and his former colleagues is planned in the near future where there is sure to be plenty of great stories shared from the school years of Nenagh’s popular caretaker.