School Daze with Billy Murphy: ‘It was your whole life’

I suppose my most vivid memory of school is of the regimented routine. Not just on a daily basis but the whole year seemed to take so long and of course I couldn’t wait to get to Christmas or the summer holidays. Your school life as a kid was really your whole life back then. Your days were ruled by the timetable, the classes, your teachers and your classmates. Looking back it seems like we spent a lot of time cooped up in the classroom.

I went to Pres primary and then went on to Pres secondary and while a lot us from the primary school of course went to the secondary but there were a lot of new fellas from other primary schools so I was struck by all the new faces. Same too with the teachers. Having several new teachers throughout the day was a big change initially from the same single teacher you had all year in primary.