TC/0610

Mayo pupils remember Omagh community

A SMALL school in Co. Mayo is just one of the many schools and organisations from throughout Ireland, and further afield, which have reached out to Omagh in the aftermath of last August's bomb.
Cloondaff National School in Newport has been in contact with Omagh County Primary School, to express their sympathy about the atrocity, which claimed the lives of 31 people, including unborn twins. The local school has received many letters, messages, cards, paintings and posters from schools as far away as Ballycastle in the north and Waterford in the south.
Recently, however, Cloondaff got in touch, sending peace posters, a video featuring its Christmas school concert and landmarks in the area.
In a letter to Omagh County, the small school, which has only 32 pupils and two teachers, said the people of the area, would never forget the coverage they saw of the Omagh bomb.
The letter said: "Every Christmas we have a school concert. This year, during our Nativity Play, we had little peace ceremony in remembrance of Omagh.
"The days before the concert we talked about peace and put our thoughts on posters which we are sending to you."
The school offered its best wishes to the Omagh community, and also sent a donation of £200, which it had raised for the Omagh Fund during its Christmas concert. The vice-principal of Omagh County, Margaret Robinson, said the Year 5 children were currently writing to the pupils of Cloondaff in response to their thoughtfulness and generosity.