It is a very nice photo and they do make for a good looking group. Uncle Gaybo is yer man if you could contact him, he would have been there around then unless I am mistaken. Maybe he is even in there. The right hand parting is not the only one, that lad in the plimsolls or "tackies" as we called them in Limerick was in danger of the ire of the Christian Brothers for wearing those in the front row.

Posted: 18.04.2012

Nick Stewart2

Second from right, middle row. Were's your jacket boy?! Great photo.

Posted: 18.04.2012

@swordscookie Swiftly checked an authoritative source (Wikipedia). Apparently Gay Byrne (famous Irish broadcaster) was born 5 August 1934, which'd make him only about 7 in 1941. I think that's a little younger than these chaps. And love tackies - have tagged for that...

Posted: 18.04.2012

@56105315@N07 I wonder did he get in trouble, what with it being photo day and all?

Posted: 18.04.2012

Gaybo's older brother who died a few years back (can't think of his name just now - AL?) was also in that school and also worked for RTE. The chap on the right on the middle row looks a lot like him. There's something about the chap 3rd from right in the front row next to the lad with the tackies that is very familiar and reminds me of a Barrister or politician.

Posted: 18.04.2012

Juffrouw Jo

Ah the good old days when kids still looked cool. Such a long time ago.

Posted: 18.04.2012

@swordscookie I know who you mean, but can't think of his name either! I love 3rd from right on front row - very wry expression...

Posted: 18.04.2012

CHG PRO PHOTOGRAPHY incorporating the APL archives

@hab3045 They are very cool, but cute too.

Posted: 18.04.2012

Juffrouw Jo

@nlireland Depressing to think how these boys would look if they had been photographed today. Trousers falling down, long messy hair, ipods, bored looks, mobile phones, flashy sneakers, making US gang hand gestures, posing like "bad dudes", etc.

Posted: 18.04.2012

Perhaps an attempt should be made to contact Gaybo and see if he recognizes any of these people? Can't find any contact email address for him, though, not even an agent contact!

Posted: 18.04.2012

John_McK1966

The class rebel extreme left, centre row!

Posted: 18.04.2012

@apl-irl I'd imagine he has enough on his plate, but I will use Twitter, etc. to see if anyone can help with identification on this one...

Posted: 18.04.2012

@32428096@N05 Oooh, you might be right there...

Posted: 18.04.2012

Note the lad wearing a crumpled casual zipper jacket. It looks out of place. Maybe he was a visiting American. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipper

Posted: 18.04.2012

@47290943@N03 I sent a mail to the Past Pupils Union to see if they could help!

Posted: 18.04.2012

corncrake68

Not a pair of boots or wellies on show. As for the 'Tackies' or 'Gutties' as they were called around Cavan, we often wore 'Sandshoes' another name for them, to school but only in black. The white ones were generally worn by boys who played tennis, which ruled out the boys I went to school with. lol.

Posted: 18.04.2012

tammybeck

@blackpoolbeach maybe his family could not afford the proper jacket ?

Posted: 18.04.2012

Peter Denton

Judging by the various eyelines, this may not have been the final photo - some of the kids are looking to their left, as if someone's talking to them, while others are looking at the camera... and the boy on the left in the front row hasn't yet positioned his hands together. I love the fashion styles, too - shirt collars over the jackets, some jackets quite long (top and middle rows, right), a combination of ties and open necks - and, returning to the boy on the left in the front row, an open-necked shirt and a waistcoat! Now that's radical - though not as radical as the rebel in the tackies (new word for me... who says the internet dumbs down?!) Oh - and what's so special about the boy on the right in the front row - why does he get the only chair with arms? Head boy? Prefect? Headmaster's son? Richest kid in Dublin? I think we should be told...

Posted: 18.04.2012

acrid home

Fr Tom Burke - co-founder of the Young Scientist of the Year is in this Class but don't know which one he is...yet! Sadly he passed away in 2008.

Posted: 18.04.2012

@rockface/ great stuff Rockface. We may be able to follow up from there.

Posted: 19.04.2012

@tammybeck I cannot remember any zipper jackets when I went to school in the late 1940s/early 1950s. One lad was sent home for wearing long trousers, age 10 years.

Posted: 19.04.2012

@swordscookie You are so good! We'll wait to hear from them...

Posted: 19.04.2012

@rockface Thanks a million for that! I'll add it into the description under the photo - may help to jog someone else's memory...

Posted: 19.04.2012

@peterdenton The internet (on here anyway) absolutely does not dumb down! I learned tackies, gutties and sandshoes from this one...

Posted: 19.04.2012

@blackpoolbeach But were zips in trousers at that stage?

Posted: 19.04.2012

Trouser flies always seemed to be missing a button or two. There was no cotton-polyester in those days. All those jackets and shorts would have been wool-based. Socks would have been wool, with elastic garters. Shoes had leather uppers and soles. They went to the cobblers to be mended. I always had a Platignum fountain pen that leaked ink on to my shirt. I did not get trouser zips until the 1960s, after I had left school.

Posted: 19.04.2012

@blackpoolbeach Wool-based and itchy, I bet. It's daft, but I can't comprehend a world without zips - bit like the Yoof of today not believing in a world without computers... :)

Posted: 19.04.2012

Christian Hermann Fotografie

@47290943@N03 Strange question for a well brought up young lady to ask? @14302637@N08 You must have been very well off, we used inkwells right up to the early 1960's and dipped a stick-pen with replaceable nib on the business end into it. One year some of our lads discovered carbide for the old carbide bicycle lamps and if you put a tiny amount into an inkwell it foamed all over the place. It also changed the colour of the ink to a watery purple and we all got belted for writing with it! You never mentioned Overcoats - everybody had an overcoat be it wool, gaberdine etc. and they weighed a ton when they got wet and took ages to dry. Those were the days!!!

Posted: 19.04.2012

the historic moment! lovely!

Posted: 19.04.2012

@swordscookie I was the ink monitor for a while, filling up the inkwells with one of those big glass bottles. Some lads used to ~~steal~~ obtain carbide from nearby coal mines, just to put into inkwells. Woolworths sold Platignum fountain pens. Not the best quality. They had a rubber bladder inside. All that wool clothing used to smell. I still smell, just for old-times sake.

Posted: 19.04.2012

Juffrouw Jo

I wear 1930s clothing every day, today. But being a lady, I wouldn't really know about what gentleman's or boys clothing would feel like to wear. But some of my male friends wear vintage clothing every day as well and I do have some mens and boys clothing from this era in my collection. My clothes are either cotton or wool, I write my letters with nibpen and ink, have no tv, mobile phone, washing machine, etc. The clothes do smell, especially after it has rained, but it is a lovely smell. If you live the old fashioned way, your life has a lot of interesting smells that seem to have been replaced by everyone and everything smelling like "the wild freshness of lime" or something else chemical. Zippers have been around for a long time but yes, most trousers had buttons back then, as they should! Zippers came into common use in the 1930s, the marketing was aimed at children because it promoted self reliance.

Posted: 19.04.2012

corncrake68

Not a 'Gansey' in sight either. Have a look at this photo of boys of a similar age in a Cavan Town School in 1942. Different, to say the least. flic.kr/p/bzUwr3

Posted: 19.04.2012