LIONS’ PROJECT SEES PUPILS RESEARCHING THE PAST
CHILDREN ARE FINDING OUT HOW MUCH THEY CAN LEARN FROM THEIR GRANDPARENTS IN A STORYTELLING CHALLENGE SET BY BRAY LIONS CLUB. PUPILS IN FOURTH CLASS ARE INTERVIEWING THEIR GRANNIES AND GRANDDADS AND WRITING DOWN EVERYTHING THEY TELL THEM ABOUT LIFE WHEN TH
CHILDREN in fourth class are being invited to interview their grandparents and write an essay based on what they learn as part of the ‘Hope for the Future Lessons from the Past, The Grandparents Storytelling Challenge’ being run by Bray Lions Club. This is one of a series of projects to mark the 100th anniversary of Lions Clubs International, and the 30th anniversary of the the north Wicklow branch.
Launching the programme at Bray Institute of Further Education recently, Bray Lions Club president Jerry Teehan said: ‘We chose this project in the belief that it will have a lasting impact on how the upcoming generation think about how we treat our environment.
‘United Nations and other world organisations have identified that if we continue to use the resources of our world as we currently do we will leave it in a much poorer state for future generations. Grandparents can play a major role in educating our grandchildren in how we can live a very happy life that is far less wasteful and damaging to our environment,’ he said.
Michael McDonnell, project leader said: ‘We are asking grandparents, of fourth class children in all primary schools in Bray to sit down with their grandchildren and talk to them about what life was like when they were growing up.
‘In particular, we ask them to tell about means of transport before the DART or air travel, the foods cooked and consumed before McDonald’s and pizzas arrived, how they communicated and experienced enter- tainment and music before Facebook, smartphones or even television. They should also tell about the way food was recycled, milk bottles, and paper, how they conserved hot water for a bath (before showers were the norm), how they played in the open air, and lots more.
‘When the stories are told we would like the children to write a short essay on what they have learned. and we plan to publish these essays in a special booklet in September.’
‘Hope for the Future Lessons from the Past, The Grandparents Storytelling Challenge’ is one of a series of projects which will mark the 100th Anniversary of Lions Clubs International in 2017 and the 30th anniversary of the founding of Bray Lions club in 1987.
Any grandparent of a fourth class child who would like to participate can do so by contacting braylionsclub@gmail.com.
A number of young people have already prepared their essays after speaking to their own grandparents. Here is a small sample of what the children have to offer.
THE grandparents on my mother’s side were born shortly after World War II. This is how they lived.
My grandpa’s family included nine children. They were quite poor so the kids had to start working early.
My great-grandfather was a sheep shearer. Grandad went to school until he was 10 years old and then started to work as a milkman until he was 12, when he became a blacksmith.
He played with marbles and bottle caps, sly fox, hide and seek, chasing, steal the flag and tug of war. They actually made whistles out of apricot seeds!
My granddad told me that he ate a lot of minestrone, (almost every day!), eggs, dried figs and bread and barely any meat, as they couldn’t afford it.
My grandmother’s family included three children.
They were quite wealthy as my great-grandfather was a builder and my great-grandmother was a tailor.
Grandma went to primary school but didn’t go to secondary school, even if she could, as she didn’t like studying. She learned typewriting instead.
She had several hobbies. She liked sewing dolls’ dresses, making puppets using felt, crocheting, knitting, and she loved reading and listening to music.
She played skipping, leap frog, steal the flag and hide and seek.
She said they didn’t need any money or expensive toys to have fun.
She liked eating boiled bread with tomato sauce and she had meat only on Sundays. At that time there were no fridges so they had to buy their food daily.
My grandma got her first TV when she was nine.
Whoever had a TV invited their neighbours over to watch it.
My granddad’s family didn’t have any TV so they used to sit around the fire and tell stories.
Giada Ruzzu, St Philomena’s Primary School.
OVER the years, generation upon generation, the world evolves and life changes. However, the past is still important. I asked my mom about her father’s second world life. First of all, my grandfather grew up during the war with his father, mother and sister in the Philippines.
In my grandfather’s time, his house was different. It was a nipa hut and its materials were coconut leaves, rice stalks, split bamboo and more. The materials weren’t as strong compared to the materials nowadays, like brick and stone.
Inside his bedroom, he had a chest to store his clothes and he slept on a handwoven mat, unlike nowadays when we have comfortable beds to sleep on.
One of my grandfather’s jobs was to fetch water from the well but he had to be cautious because it was dangerous due to the war. He also swept the floor and washed the plates, cups and utensils. Here today, some of us have a dishwasher to do the work for us humans.
Sadly, my grandfather’s house was destroyed because of the war but he and his family built a new home. They were careful because the Japanese soldiers invaded the Philippines and the American soldiers had to protect the citizens of the Philippines.
Luckily, my grandfather survived and didn’t get injured.
After hearing my grandfather’s past, I am thankful for what I have: money, an education, family, friends and more. I wonder if the future will be much different to now, and I wonder how different things will be since my grandfather’s childhood. I think the world will surely change again as well as people and traditions.
Adam Abila, St Philomena’s Primary School.
IHAD a long talk with my granny who lives in Poland. She told me how people got around when she was about 10 years old. She said the streets were not busy with traffic like now because only every 10th
family had a car at that time, which I found very shocking.
They mostly got around on buses or trains but even they rarely even came. I’m so happy I have a car to get from place to place! Lots of people back then had bikes and men usually had motorbikes. I don’t think that’s fair – why can’t woman have one too?
My granny went on to say that you would usually see horses on the road and most schools were based in churches because they were easy to get to.
It would be so weird if we had that now. There was little to no pollution because there wasn’t many cars. Everyone lived eco-friendly and they didn’t even realise it! Maybe we could take a lesson from my granny’s time.
My granny lived down at the south of Poland and to get to the beach, which was at the other end of Poland, you had to go 15 hours on a train. Unbelievable! I am lucky I live so close to the sea now.
The postal service was very popular and people sent each other gifts, cards, telegrams and packages. Every family wanted a phone but they were only phones at the post office or police office, so if someone got sick one person would have to run there to call the hospital. I struggle to imagine people without their smartphones now just dialling 999 in an emergency.
My granny said that life then was good as well because everyone helped and cared for each other. I thought this was nice and it’s something we should all try to do a bit more of.
I think we should be thankful that we now all have phones and cars but I think my granny’s generation enjoyed their childhood even though they didn’t have as much as we do today. Hopefully future generations will be as kind and caring. Hanna Nahlik, St Philomena’s Primary School.
MY granddad was born in Dublin in 1939 just before the second world war.
He learned to knit in school. He loved to play games like hoops with rhymes (bicycle wheels that had no spikes singing rhymes) or making tents on the ‘green’. He made a Batman ‘rig out’ – or as we say ‘ costume’ – and he was convinced that he had super powers. He even tried to jump over a canopy, only ever landed it once! I’m not surprised he never tried it again... so he wasn’t always an old man!
He left school at 15. I didn’t think anyone could leave school at 15! That shocked me! He went to work in the railway station at Westland Row, which is now Pearse Station.
His dad had a boat with a propeller and they used to haul lobster pots and sold them at a fish market on Mary Street in Dublin. He would take the bus into town before 6 a.m. to help.
His dad would fix the boat in the winter. This is why I’ve been on a boat. On family days out, we sometimes go to Dalkey Island. I once caught a rabbit on the island with grandad but we let it go. He even showed me how to drive the boat.
My grandad is 78 and loves his life, he has no regrets. What a man!
Callum O’Sullivan O’Carroll, St Peter’s Primary School.
MY granddad is always laughing and messing with me. While chatting a few days ago, he told me some stories about when he was a boy my age. Some of his tales are hard to believe.
According to my granddad, when he was younger, there was no electricity in his house. This meant he had no wifi, no radio, no Netflix, no Spotify, no PlayStation and, of course no electric light.
His mother used to cook on a paraffin stove. He says paraffin is like petrol, only more smelly. Paraffin lamps were used to light up the room his family used. They were probably not as bright as our electric lights we have nowadays.
There were no taps or sinks or other plumbing in his home. His mother would go and collect water from the well in a bucket. All the dishes, and everyone’s clothes, had to be washed with water that had been collected from the well and had to be done by hand. And, because there was no plumbing, there was no toilet. If he had to go to the loo during the night he used a pot, called a chamber-pot, that was kept under the bed. This pot had to be emptied in the morning before he went to school.
No one had heating around the house, and my grandad said that in the winter, ice used to form on the inside of the window of the bedroom. My grandad had to sleep in a big bed with his two brothers.
He tells me that the ESB connected up the area he lived in when he was eight and his daddy bought a radio. Two years later they brought in a water supply.
I don’t think I would have liked to live in a cold, smelly house without a dishwasher, washing machine or a TV. After hearing my granddad’s tales, I’m now very grateful for all I have and realise how lucky my generation is. I wonder will children in the future look back at my childhood and laugh about what I have now?
Alex Sheehan, Colaiste Chraobh Abhainn.