Developments Continue Apace at New Greystones School; CMS Ireland: Annual Project 2013; Magheralin Parish Hall re–opens after renovations; Social Action East Glendalough Meeting; Service of Introduction; Media review – Alliance in shared future plans; Alliance: Sinn Fein councils should fly flag; Let the Union Flag fly, says Seamus Heaney; 20% integrated target ‘can be met’; New guidelines may make it easier to rent schoolbooks
Developments Continue Apace at New Greystones School
The planning application for the new Church of Ireland–managed secondary school in Greystones is expected to be lodged in February. Temple Carrig Secondary School will cater for a student population of 750 when it is fully operational. Patronage for the new school was awarded to the Archbishop of Dublin last July. Subject to planning permission being granted, construction is due to commence in the autumn of this year and the school is due to open to first year students in September 2014.
Temple Carrig School is a Church of Ireland managed co–educational voluntary school. The school is faith based, Christian in ethos and will respond to the academic, intellectual, cultural and spiritual needs of pupils with a wide range of abilities and interests, while respecting those with differing faith traditions and those with none. The school aims to create a community of inclusivity and respect within the life of the school.
The Department of Education and Skills has sanctioned the appointment of a principal designate for the school this spring and once that appointment has taken place, enrolments are expected to commence after Easter for the 120 first year entry places for September 2014. The school’s admissions policy will reflect the commitment to serve the local community with priority going to the seven national schools in Greystones and Delgany.
The interim board of management was established in September 2012. It consists of four parents from the local primary feeder schools and three clergy representing the Church of Ireland. Additional parents’ and teachers’ representatives will be included on the board when the school opens.
Further news of the school’s progress is available on their website www.templecarrigschool.ie. You can like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/templecarrigschool and follow them on Twitter at templecarrigschool@templecarrigGS.
CMS Ireland: Annual Project 2013
In 2013, CMS Ireland’s Annual Project will focus on Education in South Sudan – the newest country in the world. All Things New explores the importance of schools and teaching in the Diocese of Ibba, where primary education provision is extremely limited.
The Church in Ibba has identified this issue as one of its main mission priorities and the project seeks to support them in this work.
In addition to raising funds for Ibba, the project will help children discover something about South Sudan, explore the importance of education and learn that God wants them to make a difference. The Annual Project Resource pack includes stories from the life of David, along with various activities and crafts to help children learn more about mission. Movie clips and photos from South Sudan will also be provided.
All Things New will be a great resource for Sunday School teachers who are keen to share the basics of mission with their children or who are simply looking for original, creative material produced here in Ireland.
The Annual Project pack will be launched at two special events – in Belfast on 30th January and in Dublin on 31st January. The Annual Project team will then take to the road for a series of Pit Stops during the first week of February. These ‘drop–in’ events offer a chance to meet the staff, have a look at the Annual Project material, enjoy a cuppa and (hopefully) pick up your copy of the pack. Come along to your nearest event at any time during the 90 minutes and stay for as long as you like.
Launch Events:
• Wed 30th Jan, 7pm – The Good Book Shop, Belfast (with refreshments)
• Thur 31st Jan, 7pm – Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Dublin (with refreshments)
Pit Stops:
• Sunday 3rd Feb, 3:30pm–5pm – Ballymena (St. Patrick’s)
• Monday 4th Feb, 5pm–6:30pm – Derry (St. Augustine’s)
• Monday 4th Feb, 8pm–9:30pm – Coleraine (St. Patrick’s)
• Wednesday 6th Feb, 5pm–6:30pm – Castlederg (St. John’s)
• Wednesday 6th Feb, 8pm–9:30pm – Dungannon (Drumglass Parish)
• Wednesday 6th Feb, 8pm–9:30pm – Banbridge (Seapatrick Parish)
• Thursday 7th Feb, 4.30pm–6:45pm – Enniskillen (St. Macartin’s Cathedral Halls)
On Saturday 2nd Feb, CMS Ireland will also be present – with Annual Project material – at the iMAP Mission Conference at Douglas Baptist Church, Cork
www.cmsireland.org/resources/annual-project
Magheralin Parish Hall re–opens after renovations
Representatives from all sections of the community gathered in the Parish Hall in Magheralin recently to celebrate its re–opening after recent renovations. The parish was delighted to welcome back Bishop Ken Clarke, a former curate, to perform the ceremony at the invitation of the rector, Canon Gareth Harron.
The re–opening marked the culmination of almost 14 weeks of building work during which the hall was extensively refurbished and upgraded. It now better meets the needs of those who use it on a regular basis and expands the possibilities for future users.
The old stage was removed and a new area formed to accommodate chairs, a new portable stage and equipment for organisations. Above this, there is now a new meeting room. Low energy lighting was installed as well as a much higher standard of insulation throughout, all of which will result in much lower energy and heating costs.
The work was completed just in time for the very successful Festival of Christmas Trees at the start of December when it was estimated that over 2,000 people came to the hall for mince pies and tea.
Canon Harron believes that the newly refurbished hall will play a key part in the parish mission and ministry as they seek to reach out to everyone in the community. “We are particularly grateful to the Rural Development Council and the International Fund for Ireland for providing funding and so enabling us to carry out these much needed improvements”, he said. ”I would pay tribute to all who have been involved in the work, especially the builders – Viewpoint Developments, and the architects – Waddington McClure. They have done a magnificent job.”
Rural Development Council Director of Programmes, Olga Gallagher was unable to attend due to adverse weather conditions, but in her absence Ken Gibson from the International Fund for Ireland congratulated the Parish and commented that, “Community halls such as that in Magheralin provide invaluable venues which offer an opportunity to maintain and develop an active and vibrant community where a wide range of activities can take place. Making the most of an opportunity such as this requires hard work and dedication, and I have no doubt that those qualities will be present in abundance in Magheralin.”
The re–opening was combined with an exhibition featuring a range of activities promoting health related activities and lifestyles together with information from other community and statutory bodies. The opportunity was also taken to showcase some of the activities currently taking place within the parish.
Social Action Committee East Glendalough Meeting
The Diocesan Committee for Social Action has organised two meetings – one in East Glendalough and one in West Glendalough – aimed at bringing people from rural communities together. The East Glendalough meeting takes place on Thursday February 7 in East Glendalough School in Wicklow town at 8.00 pm. Alan Gillis will introduce the meeting and it will be facilitated by Ruth Handy.
Each rector has been invited to attend and they have been asked to nominate two people to come with them but there is also an open invitation to anyone interested in highlighting rural issues to attend.
Service of Introduction at Christ Church Dun Laoghaire
The Service of Introduction of the Revd Ása Bjork Ólafsdóttir takes place in Christ Church Dun Laoghaire on Thursday January 31 at 8.00 pm.
Media review
Alliance in shared future plans
The Alliance Party publishes what it says should be the executive’s strategy for creating a shared future in Northern Ireland.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-21237941
Flags ‘subject to state regulation’
Belfast Telegraph – The flying of national flags from lampposts in Northern Ireland should be subject to state regulation, with zero tolerance of paramilitary symbols, a new community relations blueprint from the Alliance party has recommended.
The proposals also call on the Executive to agree to fly the Union Flag from public and civic buildings on designated days.
The introduction of that policy at Belfast City Hall triggered the loyalist protests that have been witnessed in Northern Ireland over the last two months.
The call for an agreed stance on the Union flag and the introduction of statutory rules on when and how all national flags can be flown on highways form one part of Alliance’s vision for the future.
The party claims it has produced the document in response to Executive inaction on community relations, citing the much-delayed Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) strategy.
Alliance: Sinn Fein councils should fly flag
Sam McBride in News Letter – Nationalist councils which do not fly the Union Flag at all should be made to fly the flag on designated days, the Alliance Party has said.
In detailed proposals aimed at removing sectarianism from society launched at Stormont yesterday, Alliance called on the Executive to: “Agree that the Union Flag is flown over public and civic buildings in Northern Ireland on designated days as defined by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.”
This would stop unionist councils such as Lisburn voting to fly the Union Flag on every day. But the biggest impact would be on nationalist councils in the west of the Province, 11 of which refuse to fly the national flag at all.
Alliance leader David Ford yesterday launched the proposals at Stormont, an indication that after the Stormont Executive’s repeated failure to bring forward a Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) document to tackle sectarianism, Alliance is now attempting to generate debate and put pressure on the DUP and Sinn Fein.
Alliance minister Stephen Farry told the News Letter that there was a need for “a genuine regional, standard approach” to flag-flying and said that it was unhelpful to “break Northern Ireland up into bits and saying that certain types of behaviour works in one bit but you have a different type of approach in another part of Northern Ireland – we have to build a united community in Northern Ireland”.
He added that the Review of Public Administration (the restructuring of 26 councils into 11 ‘super councils’, due for completion within two years) provided an opportunity to enshrine in Assembly legislation the number of flag days.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/headlines/alliance-sinn-fein-councils-should-fly-flag-1-4729952
Let the Union Flag fly, says Seamus Heaney
News Letter – Seamus Heaney has questioned the wisdom of removing the Union Flag from Belfast City Hall.
The Ulster-born poet, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, also dismissed the idea of a united Ireland in a candid newspaper interview.
In yesterday’s edition of The Times, Mr Heaney said he thought there was “no hurry on flags” and that Sinn Fein “could have taken it easy” in addressing any issues with emblems.
“It’s very dangerous indeed,” he said. “Somebody made this remark, and it made me alert to a new possibility – they said if this goes on until the marching season, everything is, in a sense, lost.”
There have been eight weeks of street protests – with sporadic outbreaks of violence – since Belfast City Council voted on December 3 to fly the Union Flag at City Hall on designated days only.
Heaney added: “There’s never going to be a united Ireland, you know. So why don’t you let them fly the flag?”
Having spent his childhood in Castledawson and Bellaghy, one of nine children in a nationalist family, Heaney has lived in Dublin for many years. More at –
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/headlines/let-the-union-flag-fly-says-seamus-heaney-1-4729395
20% integrated target ‘can be met’
UTV news – Bodies representing the integrated education sector say a target of 20% by 2020 can be achieved, as the demand for places is rising.http://www.u.tv/news/20-integrated-target-can-be-met/19ffc378-3e72-425d-85f8-1f3f1ab3c0a2
New guidelines may make it easier to rent schoolbooks
The Department of Education has issued a series of practical guidelines hoping to get schools to set up schemes.http://www.thejournal.ie/schoolbook-rental-scheme-guidelines-772827-Jan2013/