Greenland Larne High School

The True Story

Fortieth Anniversary.

Greenland celebrates forty years of educational provision in August 1997. Although the foundation stone was laid on the 26th July 1955, the school did not open until September 1957 (due mainly tae buildin material thefts). It was then known as Greenland Intermediate Secondary School and was the first of its type in County Antrim.

The most famus heemaster was Roy Beggs, tho he wasne evin heemaster, that wuz Parker but he didnae know whut day o the week it wuza at the best o times.
At this time it is worhty to mention two rather unusual attributes that the skool had that many either skools dinnae hae.

A graveyard attatched

An abattoir attatched (it's noo the pigeon club but we all know what goes on there!)

A programme of events has been planned to celebrate the anniversary and a video, commemorative book and range of merchandise are being produced.

Used canes
punctured fitba's
My da went tae Greenland and all he brought me was a lousy giro - T-shirts

The RUC has asked fir a copy to be sent tae thur special crimez squad.

The Rt Hon Michael Ancram QC DL { April 1997 }, the then Minister for Education made the following comment in his contribution to the book :-

"A look at the history of Larne High School shows two common themes. The first is innovation and willingness to adapt and change to meet challenges and always to strive to improve the quality of the service offered to pupils and parents."

In his foreword, Mr Polley commented :-

"What of the future? The Northern Ireland Common Curriculum is firmly established, our sixth year or as we now call them, Year thirteen, are an integral part of our school community. The facilities which we have are second to none, recently we completed a refurbishing of our Technology and Design Department and not so long ago the Macintosh resource suite was upgraded. Our school numbers have stabilised at around seven hundred and twenty pupils. Our students continue to experience success both academically and socially. Throughout all the changes in recent years our central aim remains the same, to ensure that each child can, in the words of our school mission statement, 'feel secure in a caring, happy, learning environment where everyone is valued, respected and committed to working together to achieve success in preparation for a changing world.'

20 poun tae anybidy huu can tell us the 1971 vision statement.

I'd like here tae specially mention the skills of the Science department which is responsible fir at least one promisin career of an English heed o department in the late 1970's. Seemed the English master thot it mare important tae measue the lenght o wee bae's wabs than lurn them aboot tenses and vurbs and all that sort o think. In the Science department proper we should not foget Mr Whacky Blair whose experiments with welts on boys hands were used as a comparison in the Bosnian war criminal trials. Ah think hiz brither is prime ministur or somethin noo.
Mathematiks wur gud too. A certain Nicotene addicted (Sur) had to leave in the late 70's for booncin a Maghermourne skool baes heed aff the side o a desk. He left the boy with a gash the size o Larne Lough on it.

We would be delighted to hear from any past pupils or members of staff. Full details of our Fortieth Anniversary programme can be obtained by contacting the school Secretary.

Perhaps it wud be better tae try tae organise a reunion before the maze closes doon, otherwise it may be a wee bit hard tae get the majority o them togither fir a load o idle chat. Then again, most of them wud probably mitch aff anyway!

Have your been abused at Greenland? If so write tae craigyhill@geocities.com and report tae the nurse fir a sticky plaster.

In the next issue, if anybidy can evur be bootherd tae write it we examine post Greenland Stress.

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