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Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue
1 (March 1999)
Issue
2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue
7 (May 2000)
Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)
Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)
Categories
Sport: 1
2 3
Lifestyles: 1 2
3
Commentary: 1 2
3
Review: 1 2
3
Writing: 1 2
3
Event: 1 2
3
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Ronan Baxter, Keith Monahan & Daniel Treanor
St. Macartan's
The students of St. Macartan's revive
the art of storytelling
This year in our school concert a group of Transition Year students shed
new light on a forgotten art, and they delivered their new- found talent
to an impressed and packed gymnasium crowd. For, up on the stage sat three
old men and a pubs fill of others, who were later to sing "The Transit
Van" by Sean Mone. Their art? the gift of painting vivid pictures,
not with a pallet of oils and a canvas, no, with words alone. The gift
of storytelling came alive in these men's words.
These "old men" were in fact a group of talented Transition
Year students from St. Macartan's College, Monaghan, Daniel Treanor, Keith
Monahan and myself, Ronan Baxter. We, through days of preparation, extracted
a wealth of information from cassettes of the brilliant Co. Louth storyteller,
John Campbell, and so perfected our act. The tapes simply called "Campbell's
Stories", which were recorded over many a cold night in a country
inn, were our Bible, Encyclopaedia and Atlas for our act. The three wise,
old and witty men we personified told yarns and spun tales of some of
the hilarious everyday occurrences in the life of their friend "Paddy",
their cause to reminisce was due to Paddy's unfortunate "passing
away".
Alas, however, we can only take half the credit for our much-praised
act. We were introduced to the world of Storytelling by a wonderful teacher
with a passion for the "olde Irish". Mr. Patrick Duffy, who
teaches Irish Heritage Studies, a great module available to Transition
Year students in St. Macartan's, decided that a group of boys from this
class should perform some storytelling as part of the Christmas Concert.
After a bit of sweet-talking he convinced us that we could pull off the
act. It was, indeed, his positive attitude that spurred the preparations
into life.
At that stage it was decided, we were to tell the stories of "Paddy"
in the traditional country lingo. We also thought that, to set the scene
we would have to be in the pub. But, not content with this humble scene,
we agreed that another gang of lads from the I.H.S. class could also sit
around in the background, and of course, everyone decked out in their
finest farming fashion. I'm sure, as you all know, no Irish pub is complete
without one thing, a"good auld sing-song", it's like the icing
on the cake. For days on end we pondered over a suitable song, and then
it occurred to us, of course "The Transit Van" which we had
already covered in I.H.S.
Now the days were drawing near, and we were confident. On the big night
the hall was full, and in the space of an hour we must have sung "The
Transit Van" a thousand times - well, that's what it felt like.
As we heard our act being introduced, number 13; (lucky for some) we
said, "it's now or never". Amazingly our nerves disappeared
and the story telling commenced, with an uproar of applause at the end.
Well to end on a competitive note, in the words of the great philosopher
"Pat the go slap" of Silverbridge, "watch out Riverdance,
for ye will sup sorrow yet with a long spoon".
The Storytellers:
o Name: Ronan Baxter
Age: 16
Year: 4th (T.Y)
Hobbies: Hurling, squash, surfing, roller hockey and snooker.
Interests: Music, socialising and going to gigs.
o Name: Keith Monahan
Age: 16
Year: 4th (T.Y)
Hobbies: Stamp collecting, horticulture and surfing the Net.
Interests: Guitar, astrology, the cello and solitaire.
o Name: Daniel Treanor
Age: 16
Year: 4th (T.Y)
Hobbies: Gaelic football, rugby, drama and singing.
Interests: Socialising, cinema, eating out and camping.
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