Just nine retired Gardaí turned up to the 60th reunion of their class at Templemore Garda Training College, held in the Imperial Hotel off Eyre Square.

But Galway was the perfect location for the diamond anniversary of these young bloods being admitted as new recruits – because all 51 graduates began their career here with a momentous occasion just two weeks before graduating.

“The whole class was bussed up to Galway to do traffic duty for the opening of the Galway Cathedral on August 15, 1965,” recalls organiser Mick Canney.

“We hadn’t even passed out – that was a fortnight later. It was a great occasion. There was great excitement – it gave us a taste of being on the outside. Back then the training was very regimental. They’d closed the Dublin training centre the year before and we didn’t have the same freedom of Phoenix Park in a small town.”

The last time the classmates met was for the 30th anniversary when 34 members arrived for an evening function at Portmarnock Golf Club.

This time round, the nine who showed up – from the Aran Islands, Connemara as well as Waterford, Clare, Cork, Dublin and Meath – arrived on bus and train with their free travel passes for an overnight on Bank Holiday Monday to swap tales of their time on the force and what they have all done since.

Caption: Retired members of an Garda Siochana pictured at the reunion in the Imperial Hotel, Eyre Square, for the 60th anniversary of when they were admitted to the Garda Training College in Templemore in 1965. Standing, left to right: Willie Conneely, Cyril Doyle, John Hurley, Tom Meegan, Michael Canney and Andy Cosgrove. Seated, from left: Eugene McGee, Pat O’Connor and Sean Corcoran (Superintendent). Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.

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