Michael Laide - Past Pupil, Teacher and Deputy Principal

HAVING been a student in the school in the mid-1950s, I returned as a teacher in 1964 and I retired in 2004. For me personally, winning the Munster Cup after 21 years is a very special memory for me. As a player I had won the Munster Cup in 1955 and to later train the team that won it again after 21 years was a very exciting time. The CBS was always regarded as a nursery for Kerry football which it still is today, thankfully.

There was many changes over the years at the school. When I was a pupil we would go to school in a jacket and tie: basically you had to be properly dressed. This had changed dramatically by the time I returned as a teacher in 1964 when students wore jumpers and all kinds of hair from Mohican to shaved style! But in essence these were just trends that young boys went through, but they remained the same. I couldn’t say there was any vast difference in the way boys behaved from when I was a pupil and later as a teacher.

In the Green there was always a great relationship between the staff, so much so that it made it a pleasure to go to work. Teachers would often turn up that little bit earlier for work just to sit in the staff room to chat and have the craic. Something, I’m sure, that wouldn’t be true of a lot of schools. But always in the Green the camaraderie was excellent. I really enjoyed my time there and I have very fond memories of the place.