My heartfelt thanks to the parishioners of Lusmagh for the lovely send-off you gave me on the occasion of my retirement, the beautiful mass, your most generous presentation and the refreshments in the hall. Thank you most sincerely also for the kindness and support you have extended to me over the years in St Cronan's NS. It has been an honour and privilege to have worked with you and I will cherish many happy memories of occasions we have celebrated together.
Mr. John Downey
Every Tuesday morning since the 13th of September Denis Russo comes from Birr RFC to Lusmagh NS.
He parks his car in the car park, he gets out of his car and gets the equipment he needs. He sets up the pitch and waits for the kids. By 9.30 the senior class run out of the school followed by the middle class at 10.15, and finally the juniors have a short session after a little break. Every Tuesday he does this routine over and over again.
He does the routine so the kids go and get training til the blitz. For the training we did dodgeball, bull-dog , last man down, some drills and training always ends with a match.
A social blitz will take place in Birr RFC (next to the swimming pool) on October 26th. If you win you get nothing as it is a social blitz but everyone gets sweets. My favourite part of the training sessions is dodgeball.
By Jareth Coldrick
Football blitz, Roinn H
On October 5th, Lusmagh NS took part in a football blitz. The blitz was held on Coolderry pitch, we thank them for providing such a fine facilty. The weather was terrible in the morning but thankfully it cleared enough for us to play. The teams involved were Lusmagh, Coolderry, Clonlisk Clareen and Carrig. The games were played 13 aside, on two pitches, with two referees. The games were only 10 minutes aside which was nice as we had a few, one after the other.
We played Coolderry first, it was a close game but we won it in the end 2-1 to 0-1. Next we played Clonisk, which was another close encounter but again we suceeded 1-1 to 0-1. Our third game was against Clareen where we did really well and won 6-1 to 0-1. and we will be playing Carnig in the final.we play in all the matches
As it turned out Carrig had won all of their too and we decided to leave our match until the final.
The highlight for me was the bus ride back and the sweets. we will be in a final soon against Carrig, so we must prepare and hope for the best.
By Abbie Temple
On the 30th of September 2022, St.Cronans NS had a ceremony for Mr.Downey as he was retiring after 29 years of being principal of our school.
We started off a few weeks before the ceremony to practice some hymns with Mrs.Broderick. We all wrote cards and poems for Mr.Downey also. The school also got some gifts to show our appreciation for his work here in St.Cronans NS. These gifts included a garden bench, a photo and a John Downie crab apple tree.
After all the preparation for this special ceremony, we went over to St Cronan's church at 1 o’clock on Friday, September 30th and the ceremony began. The ceremony didn't just include Mr Downeys family, teachers and students of the school, but previous teachers, parents, grandparents and many more. Some of the parents were even past students of Mr.Downey’s!
Finally when the ceremony ended, the adults went over to the Parish Hall for refreshments while the students came back to the school to watch a movie and have some treats. It was a great success!
Obviously with Mr.Downey retiring, we needed a new principal and that ended up being Mrs.Laura Duffy. Hopefully we will have lots more memories to come with her too!
By Grace Moran
For the school year 2021-2022, Mr. Downey's classroom have had Mrs. Greaney to teach them every Friday. The children have loved having her especially when it came to the beautiful singing and music they did every week.
Mrs. Greaney is a gifted musician and the children really reaped the benefits of this . By the end of the year, several are playing various instruments including guitars, tin whistles and drums. They have learned a huge repertoire of songs with harmonies in many of them.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Greaney will not be available to teach with us next year so we said a tearful goodbye to her yesterday. Goodbye and thank you, Mrs. Greaney.
Today, the junior room had a fabulous Teddy Bears' Picnic. All the teddies of Lusmagh received an invitation to the school today to join in the fun. From the reports we have heard back from the teddies, they had a super day and can't wait to be invited back again next year!!
May 2022 brought 2 long awaited events for the children of Lusmagh NS- the return of our school tours! Last year, due to Covid restrictions, we were limited to local tours. This year, we could finally return to a big day out complete with bus trip!
The junior end of the school (junior infants to 2nd class) went to Turoe Pet Farm and had a fantastic day on the bouncing castles, play areas and on the pet farm.
My heartfelt thanks to the parishioners of Lusmagh for the lovely send-off you gave me on the occasion of my retirement, the beautiful mass,...
