Breaffy: Loveliest village on the plain of Mayo

by Auld Stock

BREAFFY, a five minute drive from Castlebar, seems to be getting bigger by the day.

A huge extension is planned for the local national school where the principal teacher is George Moran.

Previous principals in the school included Andy McTigue, who played leading roles in Castlebar pantomimes over many years, and Tom Higgins who compiled an excellent book, Fagan’s Gates, to mark the centenary of the consecration of the Church of the Holy Rosary, Castlebar.

George Moran’s father, Willie Joe Moran, a psychiatric nurse by profession, was a classmate of my brother James. George’s grandfather, also named George, was our milkman in McHale Road seventy years ago, a nice man who had a kind word for everyone.

There are 400 students in Breaffy National School and this number is sure to expand over the next few years.

Jimmy Foy, my old pal from McHale Road, and I regularly poached rabbits in Brownes’ demesne.

We had many narrow escapes but always managed to evade the clutches of the gamekeepers.

There is a touch of class about Breaffy, to quote the poet Oliver Goldsmith, ‘the loveliest village on the plain.’