Learning the hard way: The stick and the leather

BY JOHN FITZGERALD

Part 1

In 2001 Callan man Sean Holden recalled sitting behind his desk on a typical day at the local CBS all those years before. He listened to the teacher droning on about Irish verbs and tenses as he paced up and down the room.

Sean described what happened next: “Suddenly, without any warning, he’d spot a lad he thought wasn’t paying attention. Out came the leather, as quick as a flash, and he’d lay into the pupil. The lad would get it on the head, and across the back of the neck and shoulders. That was before he was ordered to put out his hand to be slapped.

“He put great force into each slap, and he’d give you a terrible look of reproach before the stick came crashing down. And he always went for the finger joints, to inflict real pain.

Full article Kilkenny Observer - https://kilkennyobserver.ie/learning-the-hard-way-the-stick-and-the-leather/?fbclid=IwAR2v_QP8peBWVrl8ngTyORDTmAaeTQACExxDPOAGVhZkh6FlHGSJ3bFgdZI