Presidents Message

Welcome to our new website. We hope you find it easy to navigate. The Website has a strong focus on providing access to historical happenings, for example, Cuimhneachan and the Archive Project, and current news will still in the first instance be distributed through our Blog (Link below).  We are very grateful for the work Jim Conway does in maintaining the Blog and, of course, to John Murray who takes the pictures.

On behalf of the Past Pupils Union, I would like to wish our members as well as the students and pupils of the Row a happy and successful year. I especially hope all those students sitting the exams have the results they are seeking.

I was delighted, as one of the classes of 1973, to make a return to the school as part of marking 50 years since we all left. We were warmly welcome by the Principal, Kate Byrne, her colleagues and the students. Most of those from the class had not been in the school for over 50 years and were pleasantly surprised by what they saw. And we got a hearty breakfast! We are still debating which was the greater surprise, having the kitchen and catering facilities or that the school is now co-ed. We did all agree that the atmosphere is very different to that of 50 years ago, which can only be a good thing.

It was a wonderful experience and I would strongly urge any class marking a major anniversary to make a similar visit. With reasonable notice the school will be happy to facilitate the group.

As members will be aware, the PPU has, in recent years, supported the school with various grants or awards towards the cost of students’ education. Thanks to the ongoing support of our members and to some very generous donations, the PPU was in a position to make a number of awards at the start of the latest academic year. The 2023 awards were presented by fellow committee member Pat Neill and myself to four students, two in first year and two in fifth year, who were nominated by the Principal and her colleagues. I hope with continued support from our members that we will be able to continue to make similar awards in the future.

The Committee has spent time over the last year considering the future. Our membership has been declining for some years and unless we can attract more new members our ability to support the School will be severely diminished. One way we feel we can help do this is to attract more recent past pupils to join our Committee. We are especially interested in those who left the School after 1980; a working knowledge of modern media communication methods would be a plus. Also, given that the School went co-ed in 1988, it would be great to have some female members join. John Cullen, our Secretary, or myself would be happy to take a call from anyone who is interested.

My term of office will cease at our AGM in May when my successor will be elected. A new Committee will also be elected and it would be great to get some new blood. If you feel you would like to give something more back to the School, please consider putting your name forward for the Committee.

Dan Ferrari

President