CERT training school’s reunion
THE 50th reunion of the CERT training school took place recently at Kelly’s Hotel in Rosslare, reuniting former staff members who joined the school way back in 1966.
One of their number Eleanor Browne, said she believed the class of 1966/67 was the last of the CERT school at Kelly’s before the school moved to the Great Southern.
The eight former hotel trainees at the reunion, the first in 10 years, were Marie McGee, Mary Dermody, Elizabath Doyle, Ann Connolly, Mary Irwin, Anna Foxe, Kathleen Daly and Eleanor, and hail from throughout Ireland - from Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Carlow and Waterford.
‘Everybody worked in the hotel industry,’ said Eleanor, adding that of the class of 1966, only one of them, Mary Dermody was still working in the industry in Leighlinbridge.
Eleanor said all of the group had great memories of their time at Kelly’s.
‘ The late Bill Kelly was a great man to work for and always put his staff first,’ she said.
His son, the current Bill Kelly laid out the red carpet for the group, she said, making the reunion a very special occasion for all present, four of whom - Eleanor herself, Anna, Marion and Mary worked in Kelly’s after graduating.
‘We had a great reunion and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it with a lot of reminiscing,’ said Eleanor.