The Defence Forces visited the school on Monday, January 25th, 2016 to present us with the Irish Flag as part of the Centenary celebrations. Along with the members of the team, we were delighted to have our very own members of the Navy present. We are so lucky to have Lt. Cdr Erika O’ Leary and Lt. Grace Downing, both past pupils of the school and Lt. Cdr. Conor O’ Sullivan whose children attend the school. Lt Cdr. O’ Sullivan had the honour of giving the gift of ‘no homework’ to the classes, which went down very well. Another esteemed past pupil, Minister for Agriculture, Food & Marine Defence, Simon Coveney also attended, along with his colleague Tim Lombard, who is a parent in the school. Canon Murphy, chairman of the B.O.M., representatives of the parents association and historian, author and former teacher in Knocknamanagh, Eileen Mc Gough made up remainder of the formal guests.
Mr O’ Callaghan opened proceedings, followed by the senior classes playing Mo Ghile Mhear on their recorders. A brief history of the process and the idea behind the presentations of the flags and the commemorations of the Centenary of the 1916 Rising was followed the reading out of the Proclamation. Sub. Lt Cagney was ably assisted by a member of 5th class, who spoke with clarity and confidence. A copy of the Proclamation (in both Irish and English) was then presented to Mr O’ Callaghan. A roll call of the seven past pupils of the school who were involved in the Rising was read out by Mrs. Noonan. This was followed by a rousing rendition of Oró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile by 5th/6th with the whole school joining in for the chorus. The flag was then presented to the oldest and youngest pupils in the school.
A very interesting question and answer session was next, involving both army and marine personal answering. Minister Coveney then spoke to the children and made the very interesting connection as current Minister for Agriculture, with the very first Irish Minister for Agriculture, Diarmuid Lynch. He referred to Diarmuid’s involvement in the Rising and praised Eileen Mc Gough for her research and book ‘Diarmuid Lynch – A Forgotten Irish Patriot’. Eileen then stated that they were both passed pupils, which was greeted with great cheers.
The ceremony ended with Amhrán na bhFiann being sung with pride from Junior Infants to 6th class. A very proud day for the community of Scoil Cnoc na Managh. On March 15th our school, along with the rest of the country, will raise our flag and read our own proclamations for the next 100 years. We look forward to welcoming back some of our visitors from today and with an improvement in the weather, our parents and members of our community to continue the celebrations.
More photos in the gallery.
