Athenry News & Views Winter 2025

Winter 2025

Capsule Buried for 30 Years: Clarin College Unearths Memories from the Past

prompting nostalgia among many in attendance. Educational items, including exam papers, timetables and textbooks, sparked both fond and amusing recollections among past students, resurfacing memories of bygone school days. Finally, local and national newspapers, magazines and even a stick of gum — amazingly still looking edible — rounded out the collection. Issues of the Tuam Herald, Connacht Tribune, Irish Independent and The Farmer’s Journal provided a vivid snapshot into the cultural and social issues of the time. Numerous guests on the night remarked on the foresight and creativity of the group who buried the capsule. The reopening of the capsule, thirty years on, comes at a time when the school has doubled in size while remaining a central pillar of the local community. It is clear that Clarin College still holds deep-rooted connections to its proud traditions — a past that continues to shape its identity today.

Clarin College, Athenry celebrated a remarkable milestone this week as a time capsule buried thirty years ago in what was then Athenry Vocational School (Gairmscoil Mhuire) was finally unearthed. The fourth-year Foróige club of the time decided to bury the capsule with the clear intention that it would not be opened for three decades. The years passed with increasing speed; staff and students came and went, the school even moved premises, but the time capsule remained buried, quietly waiting for its moment to be revealed. Now, three decades later, the student council of Clarin College has uncovered the capsule, revealing the treasures that lay hidden inside. A three-hour event at the new Clarin College campus was truly a sight to behold. Teachers and classmates alike reunited, many for the first time in decades, for this historic occasion as the capsule was opened by the very year group that sealed it all those years ago. The event commenced with an introduction from current principal Susan McGann, who was joined by present staff members, with past staff and former students also in attendance. Other notable speakers included long-serving staff member Séamus Hynes, who has been part of the school community since 1969 and is still teaching in the school today. The capsule was then opened, and its contents captivated the audience. A whole host of fascinating artefacts were revealed, many of which now seem a world away from modern life. Raucous laughter erupted the moment the seal was broken as a Barbie doll leapt from the capsule to the amusement of the crowd. Once proceedings settled, numerous aged love letters and handwritten notes were withdrawn, each one displayed for the crowd to read and reflect upon. Other dated objects included a mini cassette filled with music from the era,

Student Gerry Cahill and Kieran Cullinane with capsule in 1995

Front row. Caroline Divilly, Patricia Kelly, Dawn Glynn, Ann Grealish, Kevina O’Donoghue, Majella Kerans. Middle: Aine Martyn, M.J. Rooney, Rita Conneely, John Coleman, Tara Nally, Maire Kelly, Madeleine Rooney, Christina Moylan (behind Madeleine), Brendan Quinn, Liam O’Brien. Back row: Steve Treacy, Declan Glynn, Paul Donoghue, Gerry Cahill, Martin Lynch, Tom Burke, lastly the guy standing behind Liam O’Brien nobody knows who he is?