Ballybrown National School

This has been such an eventful year in the life of Ballybrown National School that it is harder to know what to leave out than which news to include! The school has seen two long-serving teachers bring the curtain down on distinguished teaching careers with the retirement of Deputy Principal Mrs. Margaret Allen and Special Duties post holder Ms Brid McCarthy. Mrs. Allens departure from the staff of the school ended an association which began at the tender age of four when she walked from Corcamore with some of her neighbors to take her place in Junior Infants. Mrs. Allen returned to the school in 1979 to teach Junior infants and she has been a constant presence since then. Mrs. Allen became Deputy Principal when Mrs. Chris Fitzgerald retired. Her retirement was marked by tributes from Board of Management, colleagues and pupils and she is a frequent visitor to the school when time from her hectic schedule allows! Ms Brd McCarthy joined the staff of Ballybrown NS in 1996, having taught in St. Kierans NS in Galvone for many years. Brd began her teaching career in Ballymun in Dublin. Brd worked as a mainstream class teacher before she moved into the area of Special Education. Brd was appointed as Special Duties postholder in 2009 with responsibility for devising the Whole School plan for English. She was also a vital cog in organizing the Christmas pageant and First Holy Communion with Mrs. Dillon. As show time approached, Brds room resembled an Aladdins Cave of angels costume, stars, spears and sundry props! No reference to the retirement of these two teachers would be complete without mention of the magnificent cakes baked by Ann Hannon to mark the occasion or the catering and decorating skills of the members of the Parents Association. The singing of the Sixth Class pupils under the direction of Mrs. Mulroe and Ms Day added greatly to the enjoyment of both ceremonies. Ballybrown NS gained its first Green Flag in 2011 in the area of litter and waste. Work is currently going on under the guidance of Green Schools Co-ordinator Mrs. Margaret Hodgins. The next module is Energy. Major initiatives are being undertaken to save energy and all areas of school life are under review. Electric Detectives are busy in every class ensuring lights are turned off when nobody is in the room while meter readings are taken morning and evening to monitor energy usage. Poster competitions, slogan competitions, low energy light bulbs... the list is endless but it is true to say a lot of energy (pupilsenergy!) is being used to attain our goal! A highlight of the year so far was the visit of Colm Gooch Cooper to the school where he spoke to children about his playing career but also about his hobbies, musical tastes and even his dislike of spiders! He was presented with a hurley, specially crafted by Ed Shanahan, with a green and gold grip. No review of the year so far could be complete without referring to the wonderful achievement of Third Class, all 33 of them, under the guidance of their teacher Beena Day, who is widely known in Drama circles. The class performed the play, I Didnt Think! for all the other classes in the school before staging a special performance for parents, grandparents and friends with House Full signs up. The following week saw the show go on the road as the play was entered in the Limerick Primary Schools Drama Festival in Our Lady of Lourdes School. The cheering could be heard in Clarina when the Ballybrown NS production was deemed the winning production. Celebrations continued in school as Tom and Evelyn O Brien were waiting with goodies for the successful cast, hotly followed by the schools Parents Association whose energy and interest is boundless. Teams from the school also took part in football, hurling, girls football and camogie. A big Thank you to Mary and Kevin Conway who trained and assisted with the boys and girls teams who played in the FAI Soccer blitzes. Music in the Classroom, Junior Achievement, swimming instruction, First Holy Communion. Confirmation, Grandparents Day, Seachtain Na Gaeilge, puppet shows, visiting performers - the list of activities is endless. With 23 Sixth Class pupils leaving at the end of June and over 40 pupils enrolling in Junior infants in September 2012, the future is challenging but promises to be as exciting and enjoyable as the year gone by.

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Ballybrown/Clarina

Community Council Newsletter

May. 2012
The Principle Activities of our Community Council since our last Newsletter are as follows: R  epresentation to Limerick County Council on action that needs to be taken in order to have safer and better roads in our area. Among the issues highlighted is the installation of a proper walkway, protected by a crash barrier between Clarina Village and the Bricklodge. Also a speed limit reduction on that part of the N69, around Ballybrown School and playing fields in the area.  Since its formation in 2005 our Community Council has been operating under a Muintir Na Tire Constitution. The Council has now drafted its own constitution. This constitution will be put before a General Community meeting to be held in the GAA Clubhouse on May 23rd at 8:30pm.  The Resource Centre: Grant approval for this centre has been received from West Limerick Resources which we very much appreciate. Increased grant approval is now awaited from the Department of the Environment and a decision is pending.  Community Meeting: A community meeting will be held on May 23rd in the GAA Club House at 8:30pm. A comprehensive report on all the activities of the council will be given as well as putting the new Constitution before the meeting for approval. Please Attend.

All eight of our teams are at or nearing the end of their respective seasons and its been a great year overall for the club. The junior Mens team are on the verge of promotion back to the First Division of the League and are in the Quarter Final of the Desmond Cup. The Junior Ladies fielded a youthful team during a season when they were always competitive in league and cup only losing out on penalties to a strong Abbeyfeale team in the Desmond Cup semi final. The U/16 girls team gained great experience in a season that yielded a fine mid-table finish in the league. The Schoolboys teams also had a fine season. The U/12s have a league decider against Feenagh on Tuesday April 24. The U16s have had their first season in the top division and are currently locked in a battle for 2nd position behind a very strong Newcastle West team. There was great participation for both U/8s and U/10s teams this season with 19 turning out for the U/8s and 17 for the U/10s. The U/8s are mid-table in the league with one game to go and the U/10s are on course to make the Shield Final which is played off between the teams who finish 2nd and 3rd in the league. At the end of this season the club plans to do some renovation work on its field and in order to fund this it is organizing a sponsored walk on the Bank Holiday Monday May7 starting at 2pm in the School Car Park. Your support as always would be greatly appreciated.

GAA News

Chairman Ballybrown/Clarina Community Council

Richard Kennedy

Community Alert Update

Joe Lyons
Principal
Name: Telephone/Mobile No. Email Address:

L-R: Former colleagues in Ballybrown NS Michael Lynch, Chris Fitzgerald, Brid McCarthy & Margaret Allen

The Alert Group committee would like to thank its members for all the good work being done when assisting with funerals in the Parish, and reporting the registrations of suspect vehicles to the local Garda station. If anyone in the Parish notices a vehicle acting suspiciously, we would ask that you please take down as much detail as possible, and contact the local Grada Station 061-355103 in Patrickswell with the information. Limerick County Council has issued over 60 fire alarms to the community alert. With thanks to the groups members all alarms have been distributed and installed in homes across the parish. The Community Alert held an information session in Ballybrown GAA club in April for all members of the parish, regarding home farm and business security conducted by Sergeant Brian Broderick, Crime Prevention Officer, An Garda Siochana. The Alert Group would like to thank everyone from the Parish who attended the event. Please remember to stay vigilant and alert, and report any suspicious activity to the Garda.

If you wish to be added to our mailing list or receive Community Council Information please complete the section below and drop it in to Hayes Shop or Centra where there will be collection boxes located:

The Thursday Club

(Clarina Active Retired Association) The name of the game is fun and the Thursday Club (Clarina) A.R.A. have it in spades. In February we visited the Community Centre in Glin where the some of the staff met our bus at the door to welcome us and immediately we were served with a cup of tea and it was all uphill after that. We had a great day of fun and games and were provided with a lovely lunch into the bargain. Before going home we were given tea and biscuits to see us off. The 1st March saw us being greeted, again at the door, at the Dunraven Arms Hotel where we chose to go on the 1st March to celebrate our Birthday lunch. The food was sumptuous and the staff very friendly and helpful. We provided our own music courtesy of Josephine OGrady, accordion, and Ann Reidy mouth organ, our very own musical members. We danced and sang our hearts out and by the time our bus arrived to take us home we were pleasantly exhausted! The 1st April saw us holding a Cake Sale which was a roaring success and we wish to thank all those bakers, buyers and contributors of cash and all who supported us in any way. The 5th April was Raffle Day -again we must say a very big thank you to the people of the Parish and beyond whose generosity knew no bounds. We should like to point out that both the Cake Sale and the Raffle were held in aid of the proposed new Resource Centre and Thursday Club respectively. The same day was our usual club day it being a Thursday but a day with a difference. As usual we had our exercises, cards and bingo but we also held an Easter Bonnet Parade. There is no lack of artistic ability in Clarina/Ballybrown. The ladies went all out with the most beautifully decorated Bonnets. The men in the group did the judging and 1st prizee went to Betty Morrow who had the most gloriously decorated bonnet in all the bright Easter colours, 2nd prize to May Doolin and 3rd prize to Maureen Coughlan. Roll on the rest of the year we are in the process of planning our next adventures!

Tidy Towns 2012

At the outset, Clarina Tidy Towns Committee would like to thank everyone who took part in the Spring Clean Initiative on the 24th of March. The Spring Clean was a great success and marked a start to the Tidy Towns activities for 2012. The Tidy Towns Group meet every Tuesday evening at 7.00pm outside the Chemist in the village and all are welcome. We are currently planning our activities in conjunction with our application form for the Tidy Towns Competition under various headings such as landscaping, wildlife and natural amenities, tidiness, waste minimisation and residential areas. If you have any interest/ expertise in these areas please come along to our weekly activity. The main project in scope at present is a large flower bed at the Limerick side of the village on the N69 and it is our intention to commence this over the next couple of weeks. The Tidy Towns offers communities the chance to get involved and gain a sense of purpose and achievement as the area improves. Please come along on Tuesday evening at 7.00pm if you are interested or contact your Community Council Representative for further details.

Community Games
T Ballybrown/Clarina Community Games 2012 so far Draughts Our year started off with and U14 and U10 draughts teams competing in Ballingarry and playing well but unfortunately did not qualify to the finals of the competition. Talent Our local talent was as big as ever with a wide variety of talent from singing, dancing, music and recitation. We had 20 acts going forward to represent us in the county finals of the talent competitions. After a few nights in Askeaton and Caherconlish, we came out with 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 5 Bronze and 3 4th place medals. From the talent we have Emma-Kate going forward to represent Limerick at the national finals in May. Many thanks to Marguerite Quinn for helping with all the Talent acts before the finals. Cross Country This year we had a massive entry in the cross country. There were 23 runners representing us in Rathkeale on the Bank holiday Monday in March. Congratulations to Oran and Cathal who will represent us at the national finals along with Emma-Kate. Many thanks to Diane Curran for training the runners before the competition. Art and Handwriting Many thanks to the school for running the local art and handwriting competitions. Our judges had some tough decisions to make and many thanks to them also. We won silver and a bronze in the handwriting and a bronze medal in the art. Upcoming Best of luck to our tag rugby teams and our camogie team in their upcoming competitions. Check out http://www.limerickcommunitygames.com to keep up to date with all the latest news. Damien O Brien (Secretary)

Some of the Participants in Spring Clean Day in Ballybrown Clarina 24/03/2012

Pioneer Association
The Ballybrown Pioneer Association Centre was set up in 1951 and is still going strong today and takes a very active part in the local community helping out and assisting in any way they can with the betterment of our Parish. The main annual features of the local Pioneer Association calendar are, the sponsored walk in May, the annual trip to Lourdes in June with the Limerick Diocesan Pilgrimage and of course our now Annual Ballybrown Parish Journal which is produced each year for the past twelve years under the auspices of the Pioneers. Recently a gate has been erected at Kilkeedy Graveyard, sponsored by the Pioneers and erected by Limerick County Council. This gate is over one hundred years old and was sourced in Athlone where it was made in the early 1900s by a blacksmith named William Sloane. Last year both statues at the Grotto in Tervoe were repainted and an altar was erected with the financial support of the local Pioneer Association. On Friday April 27th 2012 fifty four pupils of Ballybrown National School are receiving the sacrament of Confirmation in Ballybrown Church. The local Pioneer Association, in keeping with a long tradition of taking the pledge at Confirmation time, are presenting each pupil with a Juvenile Pin and they will be joining the ranks of the Pioneers until they are at least eighteen years of age.

Officers: Pat Gallagher, President, Lena Mc Carthy, Treasurer and Willie Ryan Secretary. Committee: Mary Gavin, Ann OBrien, Tom Donovan, Martin Lynch, Kieran McCarthy, Donie Burke, Jimmy Hartigan, John Michael Cosgrove, Maura Byrnes. Anyone wishing to join the Pioneer Association can do so by contacting any of the above.