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Douglas Anderson Remembered

It was with great sadness, outside office and added to this was a lecture room.
that this September we The school was expanding at a rapid rate and with
mourned the passing of the introduction of weekly boarding the number of
Mr Douglas Anderson, a boarders increased. Central heating was introduced in
former principal of the the seventies and the whole school was refurbished
Royal School. at the same time. With the introduction of computers

The Following is an into industry the school decided to introduce them
abridged version of an to the students and set up a computer area between
article that appeared in ’78 and ’79. They felt it was a necessity and they took
The Anglo Celt to commemorate his retirement in 1989. the opportunity to expand yet again. In 1983 the
department was completed with a network system.
When the new school term began last September at
the Royal School, Cavan, the name of Anderson which Weather Station
has been synonymous with the school for last sixty- Following that, the possibility of setting up a weather
two years was missing. When Mr. Douglas Anderson satellite station came up, and once again they
retired as principal in May of this year, it brought to an decided to go ahead with the idea. It was tied into the
end the remarkable association of his family with the computers and was completed by 1985. The students
school. Between Douglas and his later father, John, have gained valuable knowledge from the station
they held the position of principal for those 62 years. since it was set up. Douglas points out that the school
has continued to expand all the time and has done so
During the formative years of literally thousands of
students’ lives both Douglas and his father before him without benefit of any Government grants for building
imparted knowledge to them with skill and dedication extensions. He states that the school has the flexibility
which was recognised throughout the county and and resources to expand when the need arises.
beyond. From the difficult time of the twenties The Varied Curriculum
Royal School has become one of the leading secondary According to Douglas there is a much more varied
schools in the North-East and this is due in no small curriculum available today for students. During his
way to the dedication of the Anderson Family over the father’s time they taught such subjects as Latin, Greek,
past six decades. English, Maths, and Science, in fact, any subject for

Succeeded in 1970 which there was a demand. His father’s subjects
Douglas succeeded his father as principle in 1970 were Maths, French and Latin, while Douglas taught,
Science, Maths, Chemistry and Biology.
although his father continued to take an active part
in the running of the school. Douglas determined to Non – Denominational
aspire to his father’s philosophy to promote sound While the school was always non-denominational,
general education at a reasonable cost. On his it was not always accepted as such. It was not until
appointment he became the twentieth headmaster St. Clare’s Secondary school closed that a number of
of the Royal School. It was a marvellous honour for catholic pupils joined them. In recent years more and
him and his family. He continued to build on the more Catholics are joining them.
foundations which had been laid down by his father.
Douglas also points out that contrary to popular
Sports Important belief, the Anderson family do not own The Royal

As things progressed through the seventies they School. They have been associated with it for the past
had to convert some more out buildings into sixty – two years but they have never owned it. A lot of
school rooms, locker rooms and washing rooms. people are of the opinion it is a private school run by
Sport became an important past time for all the his family, but that is not the case. The school is vested
pupils and Douglas with great foresight decided in the Department of Education.
to build an all-weather pitch for the school. It was Regarding studying Douglas Anderson believes
something they felt was badly needed. The pitch there is a great pressure on the students to study
was built with direct labour at a cost of £45,000 hard, however there is a drift to more practical and
and it turned out to be a magnificent playing area. business studies. Socialising at weekends also affects
During the mid-seventies there were a number of a student’s performance. However, he points out that
additions to the school. The first of these was a new the dedicated pupil will always come up tops.
science laboratory which was converted from an

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