No. 6

I attended Summerhill College from 1970 to 1975 in Sligo. It was a great school and I loved my time there for the most part. I had a many great friends. Eddie Armstrong and Jarlath Mulligan, who was always called "Chuck" were my two best pals. Eddie was brilliant on the accordian and Jarlath was mad about Man. United. I was never a rebel but at some stage, over in the bicycle sheds we decided to join a group of other students and try smoking. It took off from there. Sometimes, we cycled down the docks or some other quiet place to have a smoke, in peace. The danger of being caught was always a resident fear that stalked us. If our fingers were inclined to brown a little we would rub the affected area up and down on a roughish wall, white if possible, to remove any evidence of our illicit activity. We chewed mints to freshen our breath. I must point out that Eddie was never a smoker but several others accompanied us as time went on. If we were short of cash there was a small shop nearby sold cigarettes individually. I remember one lad going in, got a bit flustered and ordered "Ten Carroll's and ten matches please." We tried several brands, discussing the merits and failings of each and eventually each of us found our own favourites. My own favourites for a while were Player's No. 6.
I seldom meet any of my friends from that time. If I did, I am sure the subject of smoking would crop up eventually, and we would laugh at the innocence of it all.
When we were in our house in Emyvale for a few years we decided to lift some floor covering that had become worn. Underneath was a flattened No. 6 , 20 pack, a poignant reminder of fondly remembered school days.