James McCarthy, Sean Walsh, Dan Buckley, Cathal Dennehy, Sean Flanagan, Dylan McCarthy and Kyle McCarthy before taking part in the Scoil Pól Wallballathon
Scoil Pól in Kilfinane was a hive of activity over the weekend as the school hosted its 48 hour Wallballathon as a fundraiser for the new €1m multi-purpose arena. Students, teachers and members of the wider community were hitting, pucking and kicking balls off the wall in the physical education hall from 9am on Friday last to 9am on Sunday 6th.
The target for the weekend, €20,000, was well and truly reached, providing another funding boost to the proposed new Arena, which will not just be a school facility but one for the wider community also.
33 different groups
The tremendous success of the event was made possible by the thirty three different groups that took part at all hours of the day and night over the weekend. The community groups that participated included Kilfinane NS, Martinstown NS, Ard-patrick NS, Glenbrohane NS, Garryspillane GAA, Blackrock GAA, Glenroe GAA, Ballylanders GAA, Effin GAA, West End Drama Group, Ballylanders Ladies Gaelic Football Club, Blackrock Bord na nÓg, Glenroe Bord na nÓg and Staker Wallace GAA.
Scoil Pól would like to extend a massive thank you to all the groups that participated in the event – it could not have been the success it was without the fantastic support offered.
Massive response
Aside from that, the community response was phenomenal. Event organiser Eoin Walsh said, “We feel tremendously privileged to be a part of this community. The generosity of people was immense over the weekend both with their time and money, for which we are extremely grateful.
A special word of thanks also to James Ryan for sponsoring balls for the event.” The school community played a massive role in the fundraiser as hurling, camogie, football and basketball teams joined in along with staff and the Parents Association. Some may think that students would never volunteer to be in school after the bell rings.
However, students came in their droves and kept the fundraiser going well into the night.
A very special community
Principal, Mike O’Hara, told the Vale Star, “We are extremely proud of our students this weekend who gave up their time to help us out.
Our school community, and, indeed, the wider community, is very special and that was proven this weekend.”
Liz Power of the Scoil Pól Parents Association added, “It was a fantastic event and great to see everyone young and old involved.”
Wholehearted appreciation
All at Scoil Pól would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone near and far who donated towards the fundraiser. We cannot express how humbling it was to see the tremendous number of donations that came in and we hope that when this Arena is built, we can have everyone back in some capacity.
The GoFundMe page will remain open and can be found on our social media platforms. In addition, there is donation buckets outside the office for anyone who would like to make a donation.
Keep a close eye on the Vale Star for further news in the weeks ahead.