There’s nowhere I’d rather be than with our ‘school-family’
IHAVE to go to a cake sale.’ My friend looked at me sideways. I was leaving my girls’ weekend early to get back to Ballina for the spring cake sale fundraiser for my son’s school.
I should be relaxing, but with two school-age children there always seems to be one commitment or another to attend every weekend. Plus, the last thing this waistline needs right now is a cake sale.
Nonetheless, I knew I had to put in an appearance and the thing about cake sale goodies is that you can freeze stuff, then pretend to guests that you made it yourself.
‘It’s New town white,’ I said, by way of explanation. ‘Protestant baking.’
My son’s school was the local Church of Ireland national school until a couple of years ago when it was taken over by Educate Together. The new, inclusive ethos dovetailed perfectly into what was already a friendly, child-centred, small country school. Numbers are growing every year and we are expanding, which is exciting, but expansion means we need more money, hence the fundraising.
Around here, the Church of Ireland ladies are renowned bakers. In the great Irish tradition of blow-ins going back three generations, although the school is resolutely multicultural — with many Catholic mothers producing roulades and agnostic fathers icing cookies — Newtownwhite Cake Sale will always come with the whispered tagline, ‘the Protestants are baking’.
It was midday by the time I got to Ballina, so I went by Mam’s, grabbed herself and Tommo, and the three of us sauntered across the bridge and up town. The sun was shining and Ballina was busy — but not mad busy. It was that kind of early April day when people wander about in the sunshine looking somewhat nonplussed by the clement weather, suspiciously wondering if it’s safe to take off their coats.
The Newtownwhite Cake Sale was being held in the Jackie Clarke museum. Jackie was a Ballina business man and a collector of Irish historical material. He was also a friend of my grandfather, and so this museum containing all his artefacts and papers holds a particular place in my heart. In 2005 Jackie’s widow, Anne, gifted his collection to Mayo County Council for the people of Ballina and Ireland, and they built a fabulous museum in an old bank building. In addition to being a cultural hub, The museum has a community ethos and gave us their cafe and courtyard for the afternoon.
As soon as the weather clears, their walled urban garden comes into its own. With wonderful flower beds featuring native species, a vegetable garden and grass seating structures, I could happily spend April to October sitting on one of its hidden benches, drinking tea. The moment we arrive, Tom disappeared into it, excited to see so many of his classmates out of context. ‘I’m a useless mother,’ I said to Noel, who was manning the till. ‘I didn’t bake a thing.’
THEN I looked behind the already groaning-withgoodies front table and saw that every visible surface was piled high with pastries, buns, tarts, cupcakes... ‘Janey Macs,’ I said as Ella’s granny arrived in with a tray, ‘is that an actual roulade?’
‘Fresh cream and raspberry,’ she said. ‘Eight euros.’
‘A snip,’ I replied, mouth watering, and opened the purse.
I ate two fresh cream and strawberry butterfly buns for ‘lunch’. Waistline? I enjoyed every mouthful! We had only meant to sit down for ten minutes, but two hours later we were still there. There was no music or ‘entertainment’. Just watching cakes being sold and a bit of chitchat with familiar Ballina faces coming and going.
Newtownwhite is a school where the parents, teachers and children all pull together to create a warm, inclusive community. For me, just being among them, knowing that my unique, glittering child is not struggling to fit in to his school environment is enough.
We have found our ‘school-family’ and as Tom comes rushing back looking for his fourth rice crispy bun, bringing his 50c over to Noel, I feel a rush of gratitude. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here, among these people, with my child. And there’s cake? It doesn’t get better than this. YOU can find Newtownwhite Educate Together school on Facebook