Making st brigids crosses at st brigids school

There was quite a “rush” at St Brigid’s School last week, as pupils, staff, parents and friends came together to turn out as many St Brigid’s Crosses as they could, ahead of the saint’s day, which falls today Sunday, February 1.

And although rushes might be in short supply due to the recent hard frosts, by the end of a hard day’s work, the teams had turned out hundreds, which they will be selling in Mullingar this weekend, in a bid to boost the savings fund for a new bus for the school.

It’s a tradition at St Brigid’s that they make crosses each year, says principal, Bob Keating, pointing out that the school is named after the Kildare-born saint.

Much of the instruction was coming from teacher, Phil Tifft – who actually learned the skill in his native Boston.
“I can’t remember who taught me, it’s so long ago!” he laughed.

However, he had to re-learn the skill when he came to live in Mullingar five years ago, and took up the position of woodwork teacher at St Brigid’s.

“The former woodwork teacher, the late Noel Cleary, taught me again, as he had kept the tradition alive in this school, so I’m just passing on the skill,” says Phil, who is now a classroom teacher at St Brigid’s.

It’s clear that in St Brigid’s, the woodwork teachers all have a special responsibility when it comes to the St Brigid’s crosses, as the task of procuring rushes for this year’s batch of crosses fell to the current woodwork teacher, John Moloney.

“They were hard to find this year,” reveals Mr Keating, who was busy welcoming visitors who came along to the school to help teach the skill to the pupils – and to help build up the number of crosses the school will have available for sale.

The session was one of a number of events the school had going on during the week, including an open evening last Thursday.

“That’s to promote St Brigid’s School and what we do and how we do it,” says Mr Keating, explaining that St Brigid’s provides education to pupils with special needs, aged from 4 to 18.

The crosses were on sale in Harbour Place over the weekend: “They’ll cost €1 each, and all the proceeds go towards our new bus. We’ve been fundraising for a while, and we have €13,000, but we need €38,000,” he says.

Then, tomorrow, Monday, February 2, pupils from St Brigid’s, and from the primary schools in walking distance of St Brigid’s, will walk out to St Brigid’s Well.

“Afterwards, all the children from all the schools come back here and the children receive a snack, and they then see all the work we do in this school. It’s a way of letting the children from other schools see that what the children learn here is the same as in their own schools,” he says.

One pupil who needed little instruction in the art of making St Brigid’s Crosses was Christopher Gray.
Christopher, who lives at D’Alton Park, makes crosses with his mother every year, and they distribute them to neighbouring houses in their estate.

“We’ve been doing it for a few years. We make a lot of them,” says Christopher.

And his tip where to find the best rushes for St Brigid’s Crosses?
“Out around Delvin,” he says.