Enniscorthy Castle Reopens

St Senan

Judgement Day wrote: »

+100 Bearhunter but a lot of the problem lies in the schools. The lack of civic pride has to be drilled into kids from an early age or what sort of adult citizens are they going to make. As an example, every weekday I pass along St.John's Street and past the back of St.Mary's CBS and I'm always struck by the mess left there by the kids. At break times they make their way over to the the nearby shop to buy food, sit outside on the grassy areas and simply strew their rubbish behind them. Along come the council and clear it away only to have it back again after lunch. Only one person to blame here - the School Principal! He must either be blind or totally inept not to have taken steps over the matter. An occasional inspection by a staff member would note the situation and, if rubbish was present the next breaktime could be cancelled while a class would be sent out to clean-up. If the dimmest student would soon cop on and the situation would no longer occur. It does not take a quantum leap of imagination to see a student growing up in that environment seeing nothing wrong with dumping mattresses, black sacks etc. all over the countryside. Might take some pics today and will email the Principal.

The corner shop at Parnell Ave is co owned by a teacher of the CBS. The whole place at the back gate of the school and the Grass area at the end of John street is a littering Ground for the Students. Last Fridays lunch time curry and chip cartons were still there yesterday {Sunday} at 2pm.
Along with the school principal not doing anything at breaktime. I would also blame the upbringing of these students I bet the majority of these litter lout students {who are the pride and joy of there parents} have lovely houses in the country with not 1 bit of rubbish out side there front door. Why should the Residents of John St, Parnell avenue and St John's villas put up with this Lazy, Dirty and ignorant behaviour from these students.

St Senan

Judgement Day wrote: »

Might take some pics today and will email the Principal.

I do hope the principal will act on your pictures and the shop should be made aware of this Rubbish also.
After all the majority of the residents who live along John Street close to the back gate of the school are elderly people.

Bearhunter

Perhaps in these enlightened times, when schools are no longer allowed to batter the f*** out of disobedient pupils (as they did with relish in my days at St Mary's CBS), the principal could introduce regular rubbish collection patrols for anyone caught breaking school rules or misbehaving. And if the kids are all too good to be punished, perhaps he might think of introducing rubbish patrols as a practical lesson in civic participation. If nothing else, it would teach the kids that if you throw rubbish on the streets, your town will look like a kip, all of which contributes to low morale.

I know people complain about the lack of action from the council* and the lack of bins, but FFS if a school can't impress upon its pupils the importance of not f***ing up your own environment, then I worry for the school's ability to teach calculus or chemistry...



*For the record, I consider the town council to be a talking shop for the pathologically self-important. Their actual performance as a board of management for the town is pathetic and they are more interested in passing blame and indulging in ill-deserved orgies of self-congratulation than in actually working out what the major problems are and going about fixing them. They're on the council because they aren't even cute enough to get their snouts into the big trough at Leinster House. The re-introduction of rates might make them slightly more accountable to the people who pay the meeting fees...

St Senan

The local CE guys were picking up the studants rubbish outside the back gate of the school this morning about 9.30am. Thats a complete waste of time will they be back after 1pm today to do the same.

Judgement Day

Yep, passed St.Mary's this morning about 9.20 and saw the CE workers clearing up a horrible mess - no camera but I will get shots this week.
Back on topic, this week's Enniscorthy Guardian carries a piece on the Castle restoration in which some councillors don't like the colour of the 'wooden' windows. I took another look today and some of the lower windows were open and appear - from a distance - to be timber.

jpb1974

I drove past the other day and had a look (from the car).

It looked to me like they could be timber, but that they might have had some sort of temporary plastic on them to keep the material beneath clean?

Either way they didn't look great.. I don't mean to sound harsh but they really look too new and a bit of weathering on them wouldn't go astray. Fussy or what eh!

Cantona's Collars

Does anyone have any thoughts on walking Historical Tours of the town when the museum is open again.I met a gentleman who does the ones in Wexford,he was very informative and I reckon it could be a great way to show off the town.The place is steeped in history,with a decent orator doing the tours the town could really be sold and return business from referalls by tourists would be a bonus.
I see a lot of visitors wandering around bewildered so if a tour was done starting at the original St.Senans church and working through the historical sites of the town it would be a great help. (We need to get the Atheneum fixed up first)

St Senan

Judgement Day wrote: »

Yep, passed St.Mary's this morning about 9.20 and saw the CE workers clearing up a horrible mess - no camera but I will get shots this week.

Well that was a waste of the CE workers time. The place is like a tip again since the Lunch break.

wex_martron

In the interest of authenticity I'm sure you'll all object to the Irish tricolour when it's raised over the castle upon reopening. Maybe the bullet holes should have been filled too or the 1903 extension pulled down altogether...

Judgement Day

wex_martron wrote: »

In the interest of authenticity I'm sure you'll all object to the Irish tricolour when it's raised over the castle upon reopening. Maybe the bullet holes should have been filled too or the 1903 extension pulled down altogether...

Not sure what's provoked this outburst but I would have no problem with the tricolour flying over the castle - provided it's taken down at night and not allowed to turn into a rag like the one at the 1798 Centre. What bullet holes, it's Enniscorthy Castle we're talking about here not the GPO or Customs House? I don't know when it would have last been on the receiving end of bullets given that it was surrendered to Cromwell's forces and didn't feature in 1798, 1916 or the War of Independence.

V480

I just found this thread and wondering if anybody could update me as to the current status of the castle? Any idea when exactly it will be open? Is it OPW or privately run? Will there be the possibility of any vacancies for guides, ect? I'm a former tour guide myself and recenly relocated to Wexford so would love to know.

klong

Jobs for guides were advertised about 6 weeks ago. It's being run by Wexford Co. Council.

V480

klong wrote: »

Jobs for guides were advertised about 6 weeks ago. It's being run by Wexford Co. Council.

Are you sure? I can't believe I missed this. I've basically been spending the last six months constantly looking for jobs in this area.

Judgement Day

V480 wrote: »

Are you sure? I can't believe I missed this. I've basically been spending the last six months constantly looking for jobs in this area.

The tour guide posts were advertised in the Enniscorthy Guardian - they had hundreds of applicants but it turns out experience doesn't count as all that they wanted were school leavers. :rolleyes:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71051276&postcount=189

V480

Judgement Day wrote: »

The tour guide posts were advertised in the Enniscorthy Guardian - they had hundreds of applicants but it turns out experience doesn't count as all that they wanted were school leavers. :rolleyes:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71051276&postcount=189

I actually can not believe it. I've spent the last year tracking the progress of the castle and scouring the net in case jobs came up, I never would have thought it would only be advertised in the local paper.

Judgement Day

Unless you're fresh out of school and female you would have been wasting your time. I have years of experience and applied for the manager's job and later on as a tour guide and couldn't even get an interview. I'm not biased though.

V480

That's some reassurement I suppose in a weird way! I heard that the 1798 Centre were looking for people at around the same time, presumably it was the same story there?

Judgement Day

Same at 1798 Centre. I even have a book on 1798 coming out this year and you would think that at least I would have got an interview on that basis alone. I know when I ran my own business I would have interviewed a candidate who showed that sort of initiative. Still that's what has us where we are today and I'm past caring. It's a dog eat dog world out there and this one will have his day.

V480

Judgement Day wrote: »

Same at 1798 Centre. I even have a book on 1798 coming out this year and you would think that at least I would have got an interview on that basis alone. I know when I ran my own business I would have interviewed a candidate who showed that sort of initiative. Still that's what has us where we are today and I'm past caring. It's a dog eat dog world out there and this one will have his day.

I have no doubt that you will

That's crazy you didn't even get an interview. I feel a bit stupid now assuming that I would have had a chance based on two years guiding experience and a bit of enthusiasm for history!

Judgement Day

V480 wrote: »

I have no doubt that you will

That's crazy you didn't even get an interview. I feel a bit stupid now assuming that I would have had a chance based on two years guiding experience and a bit of enthusiasm for history!

Ah, you would probably would have been in a with a shout as I'm just a grumpy old ****er - 52 today and I don't feel a day under 70.

Cantona's Collars

Remember-it's Enniscorthy......it's not what you know,it's who you know:rolleyes:

Bearhunter

52? Happy birthday JD. Another decade or two and you'll be old enough to serve on the town council....:rolleyes:

'scorthy

Judgement Day wrote: »

Not sure what's provoked this outburst but I would have no problem with the tricolour flying over the castle - provided it's taken down at night and not allowed to turn into a rag like the one at the 1798 Centre. What bullet holes, it's Enniscorthy Castle we're talking about here not the GPO or Customs House? I don't know when it would have last been on the receiving end of bullets given that it was surrendered to Cromwell's forces and didn't feature in 1798, 1916 or the War of Independence.

At least it wont be a Swastika . Oh, btw, belated happy birthday JD! When is your book due out? When is the Castle to open to the public? It was my tradition as a chap in the Town to visit the Castle every St. Patrick's Day and chat with Fintan Murphy.

Judgement Day

'scorthy - The Castle is to open sometime before Easter but don't hold your breath as it looks to me that there's a lot of work to do. My book - is actually a reprint of the very biased George Taylor work but is interesting due to being written by someone who was an actual witness to events and is due sometime this year. I had to reset the entire book myself which was a mind blowing effort but it's going to the publishers shortly and should be a worthwhile addition to any 1798 'enthusiasts' library.

The scaffolding was removed from the river side of the castle without any effort to refurbish the windows on that side - even paint would have been welcome. The rotten anchor outside needs to be removed on safety grounds and the two cannons outside the door look ridiculous and need to be taken away and revamped with new gun carriages. There's so much that should be done but will any of it be done?

Cantona's Collars

Another few years and you'll be an exhibit in the museum:D Hope you had a good birthday.

Judgement Day

As I highlighted in the Enniscorthy thread, the reopening of the Castle Museum has now slipped from Easter to opening soon. Not much evidence of work there the last couple of days after a period of frantic activity. The recently unearthed cannon remains lying inside the railings inviting theft by ....

I hear, secondhand, that admission to the reopened museum is to be FREE and this leads me to wonder how, apart from meeting basic maintenance costs, it is hoped to add to the collection. The days of people donating artefacts are largely a thing of the past and the recent Irish History auctions by Whyte's, and Adam's/Mealy's illustrate this point. I note that in the latter sale a number of Wexford/Enniscorthy 1798/1916 items were sold and I would be very surprised if anyone associated with Enniscorthy Castle Museum/Enniscorthy UDC were even aware of the sale not to mention buyers at it. I'm happy to be proved wrong.
Below Lot .409. from Mealy's/Adam's sale - A 19th Century porcelain Commemorative Jug, "1798 - The Death of Father Michael Murphy went for €480.

UpHill

You can be a little presumptive about the facts at times Judgement Day, all the tour guides hired have 2 years plus experience, that is a fact, to presume that jobs when on pull or similar is a bit insulting to the people who got the jobs (BTW I'm not one of them), a bit like the rant about the plastic windows that yes turned out to be timber. I'm sorry to hear that experienced people didn't even manage to get an interview but from what I hear there was some excellent CVs for the jobs. Nobody has a God given right to any job, not in these days. A bit of positivity would be nice particuarly in these dark days - we're getting back a major tourist attraction for the town which I think is fantastic.

Judgement Day

UpHill wrote: »

You can be a little presumptive about the facts at times Judgement Day, all the tour guides hired have 2 years plus experience, that is a fact, to presume that jobs when on pull or similar is a bit insulting to the people who got the jobs (BTW I'm not one of them), a bit like the rant about the plastic windows that yes turned out to be timber. I'm sorry to hear that experienced people didn't even manage to get an interview but from what I hear there was some excellent CVs for the jobs. Nobody has a God given right to any job, not in these days. A bit of positivity would be nice particuarly in these dark days - we're getting back a major tourist attraction for the town which I think is fantastic.

Perhaps I can be a bit presumptive but the fact remains that I applied for the manager's job and later a tour guides job and couldn't even get an interview for either position. I have years of experience of every aspect of museum operation, from drawing down EU funding to cleaning toilets, I don't have two heads and have very strong references. I live locally, have a strong interest in local history (1798 in particular) and think I deserved an interview - end of story. Personally, I think that the people behind the National 1798 Centre and the Castle (Enniscorthy UDC?) have their heads up their arses but time will tell - I thought that before I failed to get an interview.
Incidentally, I see that a crude effort was made to clean up the 1798 memorial in the Square before the wreath laying today - nice touch. :rolleyes:

As one of the successful candidates knows, I wish all those that got the jobs the best of luck and have no argument with them.

St Senan

Judgement Day wrote: »

P.
Incidentally, I see that a crude effort was made to clean up the 1798 memorial in the Square before the wreath laying today - nice touch. :rolleyes:
.

A piss poor Job indeed. But some other posters disagree.

UpHill

Judgement Day wrote: »

Perhaps I can be a bit presumptive but the fact remains that I applied for the manager's job and later a tour guides job and couldn't even get an interview for either position. I have years of experience of every aspect of museum operation, from drawing down EU funding to cleaning toilets, I don't have two heads and have very strong references. I live locally, have a strong interest in local history (1798 in particular) and think I deserved an interview - end of story. Personally, I think that the people behind the National 1798 Centre and the Castle (Enniscorthy UDC?) have their heads up their arses but time will tell - I thought that before I failed to get an interview.
Incidentally, I see that a crude effort was made to clean up the 1798 memorial in the Square before the wreath laying today - nice touch. :rolleyes:

As one of the successful candidates knows, I wish all those that got the jobs the best of luck and have no argument with them.

So you didn't get the job, I didn't get jobs before I thought I might have had a good shot at, get over it. Did it never cross your mind that the people that you hoped to be hired by read your blog? Yeah I think there are crappy things going on in town like the explosion of crossings, litter on sunday mornings but not everything is, look at how well Wexford town is doing, mostly down to a really active volunteer group working with the town council.

In my limited dealings with the current manager, who I understand has a degree in archaeology, I found her to be absolutely passionate about the the Castle, 1798 and Enniscorthy in general, I have regularly received replies to queries on weekends and at night. The castle started as life as a museum in the late 50's/early 60's by a group of dedicated volunteers, your energy JD might be better placed in some real action like the volunteers back then. Dissent is a good thing, slander without the facts is not.