THE STORY of Burren school is the tale of people from a small rural community, who have lived through 160 historic and traumatic years of trial, tribulation and triumph.

Those resilient folk from the 12 townlands have survived the hunger of the famine, two world wars, the harshness of life on small farms in the 19th and 20th centuries, unemployment and emigration.

And what a dedicated stream of teachers have served generations of girls and boys, often in spartan conditions. They ranged from the original staff of Mr and Mrs Owen Fegan, to such principals as John O�Hare, John O�Hagan, Arthur Bradley and Patsy McArdle, the latter duo being talented footballers, who both died prematurely.

Mrs Margaret Harty, who served as vice-principal under Messrs Bradley and McArdle, and is a founder of the Burren Heritage Centre, who has researched the history of Carrick school, described it as �a story of struggle and hardship, but also of progress and success.�

Maybe the best-known teacher was the late John O�Hare, father of Newry-based chemist and �Point GAA stalwart, Liam O�Hare, as well as his brother, civil servant John O�Hare and sister, Mrs Marie Graham. Gifted and widely-esteemed, devoting 30 years to local education, he also established an Agricultural Co-Operative and a hosiery industry in the locality.

While his father, who worked a small farm on the Corrags Road, had not intended that his son should become a teacher, preferring that he help on the family farm, John had other ideas.

Realising that he did not have sufficient means to put him through teacher training college, young O�Hare raised the necessary funds by labouring, working on the reconstruction of the Corrags Road. And having raised enough money, he enrolled at Drumcondra College in Dublin, gaining his diploma.

Universal reports state that John O�Hare, in and out of school, was always kind and caring, never severe or harsh. The cane had little place in his teaching life, - he would rather give encouragement to the pupils.

In many aspects ahead of his time, apart from the three R�s, his curriculum was extensive and liberal. This involved history, geography, drawing and music, even botany and book-keeping, unusual for a primary school in those times.

Rarely did he teach from a textbook, but would fill the blackboard with material from his head, then going off to attend to another class. Looking after four or five classes was no easy assignment. The strain must have taken a great toll, leading to his untimely demise.

An Irish language enthusiast, John O�Hare spent the first two years of his teaching career in the Donegal Gaelteacht. And he later taught Irish classes, organised by the Warrenpoint branch of the Gaelic League. Indeed, his future wife, Maud O�Hagan, was one of his pupils. She later taught at the local convent school. Her brother, John O�Hagan, succeeded her husband as principal of Carrick School at Burren.

No person did more to imbue young people with pride in themselves, and as a community, than did John O�Hare. The ideals he held up to them in their school-days, the spirit he inspired, the love of their Irish heritage, a sense of values, the will to win, and a pride in their good name, have left their mark on the community at Burren.

Popular with all creeds and classes in the district, he was ever ready to promote the social well-being of the people. Realising that farming was Ireland�s most important industry, and that the farmers� system of doing business was wasteful and antiquated, he formed the idea of starting a co-operative society.

And so Clonallon Agrcultural Co-Operative Society proved a great boon to local farmers, equipping them with modern machinery for sowing, threshing, spraying, etc., as well as procuring the best seeds and fertiliser at wholesale prices.

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