St. Joseph’s National School Dromcollogher Says Thank You

The following is an address at a recent cheese and wine reception by the principal of St. Joseph’s National School, Dromcollogher, Eileen Twomey. “You are all very welcome to our cheese and wine reception here tonight. I won’t keep you long, but I would like to let you know that the reason for hosting this reception is to say thanks to everybody who is involved in making this school a better place. The reception is in your honour. Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.”

The Board of Management is very grateful in particular to John Cahill and Denis O’Carroll who came forward initially to help us promote our Non Stop Draw. They have given up a lot of their time to get the draw going. They are very motivating and supportive. They have made a huge contribution. We would just like you to know it is sincerely appreciated.

“I would like especially thank our sponsors. You have been so generous to our school community. In contributing to our school, you are helping us deliver on the change we believe this school needs. This campaign is not just about raising money. It is about changing how we in Scoil Naomh Iosef will implement the curriculum. You are successful business people yourselves and you appreciate the value of a good solid primary education. We are here tonight to honour you, to thank you for your contribution.

“I would like to say thank you to Nora and Noel for organising the weight loss competition (Biggest Loser) over the winter months. All of you who went on the weight loss programme have been an inspiration to us all. You have achieved so much. You must have met obstacles along the way or people may have told you “you won’t make it” but you were fired up about it. You were passionate about it and you loved what you did. In doing this, you incorporated fund raising and some of you have no connections whatsoever with the school, but we are privileged you nominated Scoil Naomh Iosef along with our neighbours across the road St Joseph’s Foundation as the beneficiary of your hard work. We appreciate sincerely the donation of €2,000 made to the Parents Association towards our extension. Thank you.

“To the mini marathon walkers and joggers and especially Trish Stack, Elaine McAuliffe and Marie O’Connor, the organisers, we had a great day out. There was more fundraising here. There was friend raising. That’s a better word. We enjoyed our nights before hand training for it. We got great support from each other for our cause. A total of €3,500 was raised. Thank you.

“What can I say about our last group here tonight, the promoters, the people who have shown great leadership by going out night after night selling and promoting our draw. We are down one promoter Christy Kiely tonight. Thank God he is recovering following his fall. We wish him well and we miss him. Collecting money is a dreadful job, but we are here as a team. I know how hard you are working but we are going to work harder than we have ever worked. We have gone too far now and we are not going to give up. We started strong and we are going to finish as strong as we started. We chose to build this all purpose room and we will do it together.

There are no short cuts to any place worth going. You are fantastic, well done, keep it up and tonight is in your honour. Also thank you to the ladies who came in for two hours to prepare everything. So enjoy a glass of wine and cheese which is kindly sponsored by Charlie Butler, Kerry Group and Davy Cahill Cheeses, Newcastle West.

Thank you all so much.

Eileen Twomey, Principal