Page 22 - The Gonzaga Record 1987
P. 22
Signor Volpi, will certainly be remembered by many a Gonzaga Past
Pupil; he taught us Art & Drill & French and also amused us on wet
lunch hours with daring tales, adventures which were so far fetched that
they were almost believable. Nobody ever survived as many ship wrecks
as Signor Volpi. He always told these stories in the lunch rooms; today
these are the changing-rooms in the school yard. I always remember the
magnificent suits which he wore, he told us that we should always buy
the best of everything; as it would work out cheapest in the long run. I
met him recently and he was as immaculately dressed as ever.
In the very early days, we used to play soccer every afternoon on the
big field in front of the school, often there were 30 players on each team.
Fr Veale was an enormous influence on all of us, I liked him greatly; as
a teacher of English he was magnificent and he started the Debating
Society. In subsequent years, Gonzaga supplied many of the most
prominent speakers in the L.&H. and also some very distinguished
speakers in Oxford & Cambridge. Amongst the great debators were; Tony
Clare, Brendan Walsh, John Macken, Harry Crawley, John Cook,
Esmonde Smyth and Charlie Lysaght. Fr Veale developed the Sixth Year
Concept and tried to instill in us a sense of responsibility. Like many
great men, I don't believe that what he did for us all was appreciated until
many years later. Now I feel most will acknowledge how important an
influence he was. I meet him now and again, he is a great friend of my
mother and my aunt and visits them frequently. He looks terrifically well
and fit.
Mr O'Gara was our Maths teacher and I can truthfully say that he had
a great ability to impart knowledge. If one misbehaved he had a great ex-
pression, "Did your mother never tell you?" As with so many of those
whom I have already mentioned, he was a very kind person.
Fr Ned Keane was a wonderful Latin teacher, his love for and his
ability to teach the classics are legendary. He was also very fond of cricket
and was largely responsible for getting cricket going in Gonzaga. In those
early years of cricket, we were well served by some superb players; Simon
O'Leary, Arthur Plunkett, Raymond O'Kelly, John O'Neill, Johnny
O'Leary, Des Fleming, David Fassbender and Brian Kirby were some of
the names which I remember from our cricket teams. Later on our most
famous cricketer was David Ensor. In one extraordinary game against
Blackrock in the Junior Cup, Arthur Plunkett took four wickets in
succession and his feat was mentioned in the Sunday newspapers.
In rugby we were also enthusiastic, but as in cricket, seldom victorious.
Leonard Little was the school rugby captain and a wonderful place-
kicker. Barry Bresnihan was an outstanding player and was well
supported by Joe Davy and then of course in later years we had Tony
Ensor.
Very often in the lunch time breaks we would have running races which
would start in the school yard, go up by the bicycle shed and around the
Croquet Lawn (the Croquet Lawn was quite a popular place in those
20
Pupil; he taught us Art & Drill & French and also amused us on wet
lunch hours with daring tales, adventures which were so far fetched that
they were almost believable. Nobody ever survived as many ship wrecks
as Signor Volpi. He always told these stories in the lunch rooms; today
these are the changing-rooms in the school yard. I always remember the
magnificent suits which he wore, he told us that we should always buy
the best of everything; as it would work out cheapest in the long run. I
met him recently and he was as immaculately dressed as ever.
In the very early days, we used to play soccer every afternoon on the
big field in front of the school, often there were 30 players on each team.
Fr Veale was an enormous influence on all of us, I liked him greatly; as
a teacher of English he was magnificent and he started the Debating
Society. In subsequent years, Gonzaga supplied many of the most
prominent speakers in the L.&H. and also some very distinguished
speakers in Oxford & Cambridge. Amongst the great debators were; Tony
Clare, Brendan Walsh, John Macken, Harry Crawley, John Cook,
Esmonde Smyth and Charlie Lysaght. Fr Veale developed the Sixth Year
Concept and tried to instill in us a sense of responsibility. Like many
great men, I don't believe that what he did for us all was appreciated until
many years later. Now I feel most will acknowledge how important an
influence he was. I meet him now and again, he is a great friend of my
mother and my aunt and visits them frequently. He looks terrifically well
and fit.
Mr O'Gara was our Maths teacher and I can truthfully say that he had
a great ability to impart knowledge. If one misbehaved he had a great ex-
pression, "Did your mother never tell you?" As with so many of those
whom I have already mentioned, he was a very kind person.
Fr Ned Keane was a wonderful Latin teacher, his love for and his
ability to teach the classics are legendary. He was also very fond of cricket
and was largely responsible for getting cricket going in Gonzaga. In those
early years of cricket, we were well served by some superb players; Simon
O'Leary, Arthur Plunkett, Raymond O'Kelly, John O'Neill, Johnny
O'Leary, Des Fleming, David Fassbender and Brian Kirby were some of
the names which I remember from our cricket teams. Later on our most
famous cricketer was David Ensor. In one extraordinary game against
Blackrock in the Junior Cup, Arthur Plunkett took four wickets in
succession and his feat was mentioned in the Sunday newspapers.
In rugby we were also enthusiastic, but as in cricket, seldom victorious.
Leonard Little was the school rugby captain and a wonderful place-
kicker. Barry Bresnihan was an outstanding player and was well
supported by Joe Davy and then of course in later years we had Tony
Ensor.
Very often in the lunch time breaks we would have running races which
would start in the school yard, go up by the bicycle shed and around the
Croquet Lawn (the Croquet Lawn was quite a popular place in those
20
