Extract from The Deserted Village
There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule,
The village master taught his little school,
A man severe he was, and stern to view:
I knew him well and every truant knew;
From here Oliver went to Longford where he learned French from a Priest friend. He then went to Trinity College Dublin and had a great love for Poetry and Latin. Oliver was a very kind man, often giving away everything he had, even if sometimes foolishly. He graduated from Trinity with a B.A. During this time he narrowly escaped being sent to jail for a riot he was in. He left Trinity to study medicine in England but never finished his course. He then toured around Europe working at various jobs only to return to England broke. He was never really happy in England and wanted to return to Ireland.
On the 4th of April 1773 after a short illness, Oliver Goldsmith died of a fever at the age of 45. He was buried in Temple burial grounds
He is remembered both for his poetry and plays. These are his greatest works and the dates they were written.
1764 'The Traveller' published
1766 'The Vicar of Wakefield' published
1768 'The Good Natured Man' published
1770 'The Deserted Village' published.
1773 'She stoops to Conquer' published.
Willie Reynolds
Willie Reynolds was born on the 14th of December 1916. His father Jack had returned from South Africa to Corr Walderstown and settled there. His mother's name was Julia Behan, whose family had the post office in Walderstown. The Behan family still run the post office. The post office is the ruin of Gray Brook Castle, one of many Dillon castles, which dominated Westmeath. Willie, had one brother Sean, who was two years younger and had no sisters. Willie's old homestead was a storey and a half thatched dwelling in Walderstown. Willie himself was born in Corr, half a mile nearer to Athlone.
Willie started in Ardnagrath N.S on the 1s of May 1923. His first teacher was Mrs Cunnane. His brother Sean started the same day. After finishing primary school he went to Athlone Vocational School.
Willie’s father played the concertina and this was where his great love of music came from. His first real taste of traditional music was at a house dance close to his house. The dancing and singing went on all night. Willie recalled that the musicians drank porter, which was tapped, from a wooden barrel.
The instruments were very cheap. One could buy a concertina for one pound, and a melodeon for two pounds, but still this was a lot of money at that time. In 1934 he purchased a Hohner accordion for seven pounds. At first he didn’t read music but played by ear. His repertoire of tunes was built up by attending house dances.
The first prize Willie ever won was five shillings, which he got for winning a music competition. Then in 1937, he won first prize in Feis Misneach Athlone, and was awarded a medal depicting the bridge of Athlone.
In 1953, he won the Oireachtas Gold Medal for piping, the highest award any piper can obtain. The competition was recorded by Radio Eireann. He won the musical duets section the same day with his friend, John Healion.
Mrs. Julia Reynolds proudly displays the gold medal awarded to Willie. It is one of her prized positions.
In the early 30's the people were entertained in their own homes, or at maypoles or bonfires. The first bonfire Willie Reynolds attended was at Dorrington House in the Dorrington Estate. In 1927, this estate was owned by the Gray family, a very wealthy landlord family who also had a castle beside our school. The house boasted an amazing 32 bedrooms! The second floor windows had steel shutters to prevent anyone from firing a shot at Dr. Gray! Ardnagrath means "The hill of Gray".
The Gray's sold the Dorrington's estate to a Mr. Gleeson in 1921, grandfather to the current owner, Mr. Willy Moran. The former farmer's house was demolished around 1980 and a new house was built by the Moran family. Grandchildren of Willy Moran are present pupils in our school: Nicola, Ciara, Annemarie, Stephanie, Katie, Dean and Liam.
The Maypole
The Maypole was an innovation, which started in South Westmeath in 1930. That form of dancing was done in the open air on a timber or concrete floor. They were well conducted and admission was 4d or 6d for two hours dancing. The first Maypole to open was situated in "Goldsmith country", his neighbouring parish. Willie spent many an evening playing and dancing here. In 1945 the Maypole dances came to an end. Their passing was regretted as they provided good, clean entertainment for a decade.
Willie Reynolds lived through the war years and in his book he reminisces about life at the time. He recalls that during the war years one had to be self-sufficient or starve to death. He remembers that tea was scarce except on the Black Market where you could buy some for £1 per lb. He recalls that everything was rationed and petrol was issued on a coupon basis. He was the only one in the parish who had a car, for which he had a Hackney plate and this entitled him to 6 gallons a month, which usually wouldn't last for more than two days.
Not only was he a famous musician but he also loved sport, especially hurling. He joined the Walderstown Hurling Club in 1933. In 1934 they won the Junior league and again in 1935. The club disbanded in 1935 and a new club was formed in Drumraney the same year. He played with the Senior Football team on a couple of occasions but hurling was his first love in games.
During the early part of the 20th century there was a renaissance in Irish traditional music. Much of this was due to the famous recordings by Michael Coleman, Jim Morrison and Paddy Kiloran in the states. Many of these recordings found their way back to Ireland with returning emigrants giving a boost to our native home-based culture. With the introduction of dance halls traditional Irish music and dance became unpopular and people thought it was not cool. This threat to our culture soon became apparent to many of those involved at the time and they saw a need for urgent action.
In January 1951, representatives of the Thomas Street (Dublin) Pipers’ Club went to Mullingar for a meeting with traditional music enthusiasts from County Westmeath. Two ideas that had already been mentioned amongst traditional musicians were discussed at this meeting; the first was the founding of an organisation to promote Irish traditional music while the second was the organising of the great annual festival of Irish traditional music, song and dance. At a meeting in St. Mary’s Hall, Mullingar, on January 6th, 1952, the title of the organisation was changed from Cumann Ceoltoiri na hEireann to Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. Willie Reynolds, together with Seamus McDonacha, Eamon Moynihan, Eamon Murray, Paddy McKenna and Paddy McElvanney were at this meeting. The first branch of Comhaltas in Westmeath was Walderstown Uilleann Pipers Club which had been formed in 1943.
In his book, Memories of a Music Maker, Willie Reynolds says “I could hardly visualise at that particular time, that the organisation would reach the dimensions it has now attained as the greatest cultural body in the world today.”
Branches of Comhaltas were formed all over Ireland, organising classes, concerts and sessions at local level. Comhaltas now has more than 400 branches, established in every Irish County, in Britain, the US and Canada (50 branches have been formed in North America to date), and worldwide in places such as Japan, Hungary, Russia, Sardinia and Australia. Comhaltas can now be seen as a truly international movement committed to the preservation and promotion of traditional Irish culture, music, song and dance.
At its formation Comhaltas adopted the following aims and objects:
To promote Irish traditional music in all its forms.
To restore the playing of the Harp and Uilleann Pipes in the National life of Ireland.
To promote Irish Traditional Dancing.
To foster and promote the Irish Language at all times.
To create a closer bound among all lovers of Irish Music.
To co-operate with all bodies working for the restoration of Irish Culture.
To establish branches throughout the country and abroad to achieve the foregoing aims and objects.
Willie Reynolds goes down in history as one of the founders of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. His life has been a tribute to this and he strongly supported Irish music and tradition. We are proud and honoured to have known the man and we appreciated his involvement in our school. At the opening of the extension to Ardnagrath, Willie Reynolds played for us together with some of his musical comrades. It is so great to have actually known should a wonderful historical person and to have heard him play his music.
Willie got married to Julia O’Dowd on 22 June, 1950. Julia also had a great love of traditional music as she had gone to study at Leo Rowesome’s pipe classes in Dublin. Their wedding reception was in the bride’s house and the dancing went on all day. They went on honeymoon to Dublin and after a week returned and settled in Walderstown, where they had ten children, six boys and four girls. In 1963 Willie was employed by Westmeath County Council. He also began teaching music. He was in great demand as everyone wanted to be taught by him. Then he started up the first marching band, with members of the old Ballinagore Band. This was the start of another era. From then on, there was no function, football match, sports event etc. that could not call on the services of a children’s marching band. Marching band competitions sprung up around the country.
However, everyone was continually demanding Willie’s time and attention and he became overworked. He retired from his job and also had to take a break from music. As soon as he withdrew from the marching band scene the bands broke up and there is only a couple left at the moment.
Sadly, on the 8th of May 2003, Willie Reynolds died (RIP). Tributes poured in from near and far. A legend in his own time, the name of Willie Reynolds will live on forever.
The Walderstown Ewe, Ram and Lamb Sales
The first night in Sales in Ireland took place in Walderstown in the early sixties. This sale took place during the hours of darkness with no electricity, which left it bery hard to judge stock on offer. In spite of that, there never was anything threw up at these sales. The sales continued for some time until a Guard from Glasson arrived and declared the premises not up to the E.E.C. standard and put an end to the whole proceedings.
Murder in Ardnagrath!
A barracks was situated in Walderstown until the 1900's. Those of you from this area will remember it was firstly situated at Behans (old post office) and then moved to Cunninghams. The staff consisted of a sergeant and two privates.
One particular night, one of the privates (after consuming a large amount of alcohol) shot the sergeant in a fit of rage. The other private was in bed and on hearing the shot got out of the bedroom window and fled to the Glasson barracks in search of help. When help arrived back, the private responsible for the shooting had shot himself.
In the year 1942 another murder was committed in Walderstown. A man was trapping rabbits in Dorrington and was living in Dorrington gate lodge. Some members of the travelling community local to the area were stealing his rabbits. He decided to confront them and on arrival at their camp-site an argument ensued. His gun went off accidentally killing one of the travellers. Immediately, the man went to Glasson barracks to give himself up. After the investigation, it was found that the gun was faulty and the man had only to serve two years in jail.
The man who sadly lost his life that night had served in two wars. The Boer War and the First World War. The family erected a cross where the tragedy took place. The cross is still there today.