The community of Ballylanders and beyond turned out in force last Friday night to pay tribute to recently retired principal, Marian Whyte.
Heretofore, organisers would have struggled to secure a venue, but now, large scale events can be comfortably accommodated thanks to the availability of the new Ballylanders GAA complex. Given Mrs Whyte’s contribution to Ballylanders National School, the esteem in which she’s held locally and the hundreds of pupils she put through her hands, this was always going to be ‘a big night in Bally’.
A native of Ballinvreena, Marian (nee McGrath) took over the principalship from the late Michael Russell. Adapting easily to an increased workload and additional responsibility, Marian set about modernising and upgrading Ballylanders National School.
In this regard, she was spectacularly successful and by dent of her own personality, she convinced the Department of Education and its various ministers to invest heavily in this progressive south Limerick school.
See this week’s Print & Digital Edition for photographic coverage
