Yesterday saw the end of an era as Seán Radley officially retired from his teaching position in the Presentation National School. As a teacher he has been renowned for the quality of his work, emphasised by the fact that he was asked to give lectures in universities in Cork and Dublin. Most in Millstreet know Seán through the schools, or through his tremendous work in the community with Millstreet Museum, LTV2, and more recently here on millstreet.ie, and his efforts in the community are appreciated by all. We wish him well with this transition, and we are sure that he’ll be as ever-present in the community as before.

As promised on 15th July 2010 we now feature that very special c.1954 school photograph kindly provided by Joe Hickey (Killarney & Millstreet) and identified by Joe, Jerry Lehane and Tommy Burke – all of whom appear in the picture. The location is Millstreet Boys’ National School on Clara Road and the teacher is Mr. William (Bill) O’Keeffe. It’s likely that there are two classes included – possibly, 3rd and 4th Class. We are hoping that someone may identify the one person we have been unable to identify.  (Seán Radley for www.millstreet.ie )

Note: a larger photo has been uploaded for a better view of the picture. Click on the photo below to see it:

Front (from left): Connie Murphy, Tommy Dowling, Maurice Linehan, Teddy O'Mahony, Joe Devine, Teddy O'Leary, Brendan Burke, Tommy Burke. Second Row (from left): Eugene Barrett, Patrick (Patsy) Twomey, Brendan Kiely, Jerry Lehane, Michael O'Leary, Christopher Murphy, Michael Singleton, Joe Hickey, Michael Carroll, Connie Hickey. Third Row (from left): John Joe Forde, John Lee, Vincent McSweeney, Ted Cotter, John (Jack) Evans, Maurice O'Donoghue, Timothy Scally, Paddy Joe Cotter, Jerry Cronin, Daniel O'Shea, William (Billy) Corkery, Basil Gurry. Fourth Row (from left): Mr. William O'Keeffe, Patrick M. O'Sullivan, John Radley, Finbarr Buckley, John Carroll, Desmond Palmer, Kevin Cronin, Anthony (Tony) Fitzgerald.

Champions Again !! Presentation N. S. winners of the Sciath na Scoil C1 Final 2010 in Pairc Ui Rinn on June 1st (pic. Geraldine Dennehy)

Click on the photo for a bigger photo

Pictured at the presentation of the 2010 AIB Better Ireland Award Cheques in the Millstreet, Co. Cork Branch of AIB on Thursday, 15th April.    From left:  Seán Brennan, Branch Manager AIB Millstreet, Sr. Mercedes Behan (representing St. Vincent de Paul, Millstreet – St. Patrick’s Conference – €2,000.00 cheque),  Joan O’Mahony. Principal (representing Presentation N.S., Millstreet – €3,000.00 cheque),  Diarmuid McCarthy, Principal (representing Holy Family N.S., Rathmore, Co. Kerry – €5,000.00 cheque) and Mary Murphy, AIB Better Ireland Programme Coordinator, Millstreet AIB Branch, Co. Cork. (Picture: Seán Radley)

See the AIB Better Ireland Press Release below: continue reading…

Annabelle O’Sullivan presenting the “Mrs. O’Sullivan” Cup to the victorious Knocknagree N.S. Quiz Team – Andrew Sheehan, Darren Brosnan (Captain), Eoghan McSweeney and Paul O’Connor – at the recent Cloghoula N.S. (Millstreet) Sports and Pattern Day.  Also included is Mary Murphy, Principal, Cloghoula National School.  Pic.:  Seán Radley

Seán Radley was recently presented with an award by UCC Department of Education after giving an influential Lecture to the Postgraduate Diploma in Special Educational Needs teachers group.. He said himself:

It was quite an honour to have been asked to give the “Focal Scoir” lecture to the Munster Post Graduates who have just come to the end of their UCC Course in the area of Learning Support and Special Education Needs. They were such a supportive and uplifting audience. The picture was taken by Michael English in the exquisite gardens of Mardyke House, UCC.

There is an article on this weeks Corkman with the full details of this story

As part of the AIB Better Ireland Programme, your local AIB branch has €10,000 to give to deserving children’s projects in your area. The three local childrens projects are:

A. the Presentation National School,
B. the Holy Family National School, and
C. St.Patricks Conference, SVP Millstreet.

The project that attracts the most votes will be awarded €5,000. Second place will receive €3,000 and third place €2,000. You can vote by texting MILLSTREET A, MILLSTREET B, or MILLSTREET C to 51303 which costs 8c and you can do iot as many times as you like, or you can do it for free on betterireland.ie/vote.html (screenshot above) but you can only do it once every 12 hours! Voting closes on March 15th, so get your votes in and support your community.

RATHDUANE NATIONAL SCHOOL: The future of Rathduane National School is under the spotlight as parents and friends go all out to save their local rural based primary school base.

Concerned associates from the greater Ballydaly catchment area are hoping to offset dwindling numbers.

Rathduane National School is an excellent example of a primary school establishment that flourished and adapted to the changing fortunes of time. It has been and, hopefully to parents and friends, will remain a focal point for learning in their small community.

This is a sniplet from the Millstreet Matters column on the Corkman website, which also contains all the other news from the Millstreet area.

Schools Closed until Thursday 14th January

The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe TD, has told all primary and post-primary schools to close on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week due to the bad weather.

Minister O’Keeffe took the decision in the interest of the welfare of school children.

The Minister took the decision following a meeting today [Friday] of the Government’s emergency planning group and in the context of the poor weather outlook for the coming days.

Minister O’Keeffe said: ‘I took the decision to close all schools based on my concern for the health and safety of school children in these very challenging weather conditions.

‘I considered, in particular, the forecast for snowfall on Sunday and Monday which will cause further disruption.

continue reading…

It was announced last night that due to the treacherous nature of the roads, footpaths and concreted areas, all schools in Millstreet will remain closed until next Monday (11th January). This includes Presentation Convent, Boys National School, Millstreet Community School, Ballydaly National School and Cloghoula National School. There is no information on the other schools. With the freezing weather set to continue into next week, this will have to be reviewed in due course for the first few days of next week.

The schools have now been  off for three weeks over the Christmas period, as they were closed for two days before Christmas for the same reasons. I wonder are the kids happy to be off still, or would they prefer to be back with their friends?

The Department of Education and Science have published an inspection report on Cloghoula National School. We have added the conclusion below, but the whole report is available to read on the Department’s website. Also available are older reports for all the other schools in the Millstreet area, which are also listed below:

Conclusion:

The school has strengths in the following areas:

• A highly motivated and dedicated principal and staff.
• A proactive board of management.
• A collaborative approach to the work of the school
• A high quality of education is provided
• The school environment is happy and stimulating.
• The children are well-behaved and cooperative.
• The school is an important focal point in the community and a positive reflection of local customs, practices and expectations.

continue reading…

Andrea Todt of PHOTO-Graphics which is the photography service based in the West End of Millstreet is running a photography competition from Wednesday 25th November to Saturday 12th December to find the Happiest Face in Duhallow.

The competition is being run in association with the Presentation National School Fund which recently completed an extension to the school, and is also being supported by a number of local sponsors.

Every participant will have their own 20 minute photography session and the best photo will be chosen to forward to the jury to select the winner. There are two categories:

• Category A: children from 1 year up to second birthday, and
• Category B: children from 3 years up to fourth birthday

As Andrea herself says:

The Happy Face Portrait Competition, for me, focuses on the most important element in any school – the children.

You can read the full note from Andrea; read how to enter the competition; the list of sponsors; and see who will judge the winners.

When the Cork teams are playing
your heart would fill with pride
what a shame to be a plastic
and support the other side
.
From dear old Ballydaly
back to the county bounds
a strange little creature
in some places can be found
.
So, if you can’t support your own county
we don’t need you anymore
go ahead and pack your bags
and buzz off to Rathmore
.
They’ll send you to Killorglin
a lovely town of note
you’ll be very welcome
they always need a GOAT!

by Jerry Lehane

Transcript recited by Chloe Collins on RTE last Saturday night. Of course there’s lots of them Plastics appearing out since the match last Sunday. “C” reg cars with their kerry flags out the window. To be avoided

RTE have posted video of “Up for the Match” that was shown last night on RTE1 and included a segment from the Town Park, and the Presentation Convent School.

Follow this link to get to the video: http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1055791

Move the video forward to 41:30 and the part from Millstreet is shown, featuring the poem “Plastic Kerryman” written by Jerry Lehane and read by Chloe Collins. The segment ends at 43:45.

The video is only available until October 10th.

Owing to the huge interest in the pictures from a few days ago, her are lots of more photos:

Chloé Collins superbly recited Jerry Lehane's Cork/Kerry poem

Magnificent Cork colours in evidence at Presentation N.S., Millstreet on Friday, 11th September for the excitng visit of the RTÉ crew filming for “Up for the Match” scheduled to be broadcast on RTÉ 1 television after the 9pm News this Saturday night   The focus for the sequence was on Chloé Collins who superbly recited Jerry Lehane’s Cork/Kerry poem in front of the many enthusiastic pupils in the school playground …

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Fr Declan driving the Cork children mad!

Wonderfully colourful preparations at Presentation N.S., Millstreet for next Sunday’s All Ireland Football Final between Cork and Kerry in Croke Park. RTÉ came to film a sequence for “Up for the Match” (Saturday 9:30pm on RTÉ1 ) while Cork and Kerry newspaper photographers visited the school on Wednesday, 16th Sept. 2009. Meanwhile Seán Murphy and Margaret Pierce got to hold the real Sam Maguire Cup in Dunmanway last Friday night at the opening of the Sam Maguire Annual Festival. (Seán Radley for www.millstreet.ie )

Lots of more photos below
continue reading…

(pic. Seán Radley)