In the early twentieth Century there were parts of Dublin that were terrible places to life. Mortality of children was high and conditions were bleak. The Guinness family were philanthropists who decided to do several things to improv elife for people at the time and one of them was a children's play and education center, intended for children aged 4-14 which provided them with some afterschool, buns and at first hot chocolate and later juice. It continued until 1975 and the building became first a secondary school and later a further education establishement under the VEC.
It's proper name was the Iveagh Play Centre but it became known as the Banyo, one of the first purpose-built childrens play centres in the world.
It's littered with pictures of the kids and with interesting anecdotes from people who lived in the area and availed of it.
p41-42 "Activities included, singing and dancing, as well as practical subjects such as physical education, basket making, wicker-work, lace-making, crochet, etc."
p60. "There were 12 rooms in the new building set apart for educational purposs, as well as an assembly room and concert hall. In these rooms the children were taught sewing, knitting and other useful home work."
Page 85 has an interesting picture of a Sewing Class in 1954 with some of the girls knitting, one of them with her needles uner her arm, all 3 children pictured knitting are knitting in the "english" style. 2 clearly, one obscured.
