It is with great sadness that we announce that Jack died suddenly on November 24th. 2024. Kieran Jack, or Jack as we all knew him, was a member of the class of 1971 and one of the great stalwarts of the PPU for many years. The PPU was in danger of falling apart in the nineties but Jack stepped in and rallied a group around him to keep the show on the road. He went on to serve five years as President. His many achievements as a trade union activist, labour historian, Trinity College bookshop operator and on the playing fields at the Row and Clanna Gael have been chronicled by his class mates and many friends and can be read by browsing through the PPU emails on row.62@westlandrowppu.blog.
There is a saying that a picture tells a thousand words so lets have a look at some of Jack in action at Row functions etc. over the years.
Photo of the Year 2023Jack with classmates at PPU annual dinner January 2024 when his old mate, Gerry Keenan, was presented with the PV Doyle trophy for Row Person of the Year. Jack with classmates at annual dinner Jan 2024Jack enjoying a cuppa in the school when Row Person 2024 Gerry Keenan paid a visit
Fr. Myles passed away peacefully in Belfast on November 10th. and was buried at Holy Cross Ardoyne on November 14th.
Fr. Myles was elected ROW Person of the Year 2017 and received the PV Doyle trophy from President Brian Duncan. Fr. Myles made an inspirational acceptance speech which he started by quoting the words of James Connolly “the weakest link is ignorance” and he continued, in a riveting address, to remind his audience of the important contributions made by people like Nano Nagle, Catherine McAuley, Mother Mary Aikenhead and Blessed Edmond Rice in breaking the chain of ignorance, which made slaves of the people of Ireland, in their times and later. Fr Myles said that attending a Christian Brothers school like Westland Row inspired him to become a priest.
Fr. Myles’s working life was spent mainly in one of Northern Ireland’s “black spots”, the Ardoyne in North Belfast. in 1977 he set up the Flax Trust to bring about reconciliation through economic development. Since then he has been responsible for establishing a wide variety of projects and provide help to many charities. Fr. Myles took his message to America in 1988 when he founded the Flax Trust/America.
Fr. Myles lived an extraordinary life of service to his local community and further afield. On the night of his presentation in 2017 he presented a substantial five figure cheque to school principal, Kate Byrne, which was a great help to our old alma mater. Myles was a man of whom all ROW people can be truly proud. There will not be his likes again. God rest you old friend.
Hopefully, by now you will know that the PPU Annual Dinner will take place at the Westbury on 25th. January 2025 and we look forward to seeing as many past pupils as possible on the night. I hope the few photos below from past dinners will help to “whet” your appetites.
I would like to share a few thoughts on the importance of the event and some of the issues faced by the PPU at this time.
The Annual Dinner is the highlight of the PPU year. It provides a chance to meet former school colleagues, it celebrates the ROW Person of the Year and also serves as a valuable fundraiser to help us support the school and its students. Since Covid, hotel and restaurant costs have risen dramatically and this impacts relatively small functions such as ours. Indeed, our colleagues at Synge Street and O’Connell’s PPUs did not hold their annual dinners in 2024 because of these reasons.
Member support is absolutely essential to allow us to continue to hold the function. We are grateful to those past pupils who regularly attend the dinner and we again need your support. I would appeal to all past pupils to make the effort and come along to what is always a very enjoyable occasion.
We are currently engaged with the Westbury about the cost of the upcoming dinner. Thanks to the efforts of John Murray and Jim Conway in particular, they have scaled back their quotation and we now expect to hold the cost at the 2024 level. We are conscious that 70Euro is still a high price but we are guaranteed to receive good value and service from the Westbury.
Separately, you will be pleased to hear that the school continues to flourish under the excellent leadership of Principal, Kate Byrne, and her staff. Pupil numbers are up again this year and they provide an essential service to pupils in the local area as well as many from overseas who come to them in difficult circumstances. The PPU continues to play a valuable role in assisting the school and students financially and in other ways and we could could not do this without the support of a large number of past pupils.
The PPU has lost many long standing members in recent years and 2024 is no exception. Indeed, as I write this message, news is coming through on my phone of the sudden death of Paddy Walsh of the class of 64. Paddy was a great supporter of our dinners and will be sadly missed. May he rest in peace. We lost a former President, Jerry Carroll, in May this year having lost another President , Bryan O’Higgins late last year. Thankfully, we have filled these gaps on committee with Gerry Doyle (class of 73) and Eddie Kelly, recently retired school Deputy Principal. Eddie served forty one years at the ROW which certainly beats the socks off the rest of us for time spent in that famous old building. Eddie has already been a great help to the PPU with advice and assistance in trying to expand our membership. I would like to wish him well in his golfing endeavours also as he recently came into office as Captain at Westmanstown GC.
The issues we face are common to all PPUs but, with the support of our members, we are determined to carry on and do our best to develop and expand the PPU. We are looking at ways to attract a younger cohort of members especially those who attended the school since the co-education days. This will take time, however, well beyond the Annual Dinner date of 2025 so we need your support as always.
As regards the January Dinner, we will need to give firm attendance figures to the Westbury in early January. To plan for that I am asking you to respond over the next few weeks as to whether you will attend on January 25th. If you would like to spread the cost, we can accept a deposit of 35euro at this stage with the balance to be paid in mid January. Payment can be made to the PPU bank account as per the details below. Please make sure to show your name and “Dinner” on the bank transfer details.
In the meantime, don’t forget that our annual Mass for deceased past pupils will be celebrated by the Archbishop at st. Andrew’s, Westland Row on Sunday December 1st at 11.30am. We have two more names of deceased past pupils to add to the list already mentioned, namely, Sean Canavan and Paddy Walsh. If you are aware of any other past pupil who passed away since early December 2023 please let us know.
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