June 2005 - The Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School

Volume 8 Issue 2. June 2005THE ABBEY WAYABBEY CHRISTIAN BROTHERS’ GRAMMAR SCHOOL • NEWRYABBEY defeats Zambia towin the African Nations CupEXCITING FINALE TO DEBATING YEARThe Senior Debating Finalfor the Bro. McFarlandTrophy took place onTuesday 19th April. Around40 senior students enteredthe competition with theEnglish Department selectingthe eight finalists. Themotion for the debate was,“This house believes that theinternment of terror suspectswithout trial is justified.”The debate was chaired byMr. Pat Mooney andadjudicated by Mr. RoryMcShane (Sponsor), Mr.Kieran Mallon (Guest Speaker)and Mr. Gerald MorganAbbey staff and students with African friends before their International football match at the Youth CommunityTraining Centre in Livingstone Zambia, Tuesday 22nd March 2005. ‘This was their first cap for Ireland’(Teacher in charge ofDebating).After an immenselyenjoyable and hard foughtdebate, played out in front of alarge audience, the adjudicatorsagreed that Colm O’Grady wasa very worthy winner withPhilip Knox second and RuairiMcAuley in third place.Mr. Mallon presented prizesto students in first, second andfourth year for their respectiveclass debates, as well as thesenior winners. He then sharedsome stories of his ownexperience of debating andpublic speaking.Mr. McGovern, Headmaster, with Guest Speaker, Mr. Kieran Mallon, and Mr.Rory McShane, Sponsor, with the participants from the Senior Debating Final.Following his fascinating Bloody Sunday Seminar, Mr. Mallon provided the Abbeywith an invaluable archive of the tribunal testimony.

ESAT BT YOUNG SCIENTISTSPAR EXCELLENCEAbbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Newry, Technology Department are congratulated by Mr. Val Kane, Vice-Principal,after scooping numerous awards at this years annual ESAT BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.Included are pupil’s: James McClean, Ryan Devlin, David McGovern, Vincent O'Rourke, Gavin Myers, Gerard McGarvey,John McAteer, Michael Stanyer, Rory O'Rorke, Ryan O'Hare, Sean Donnelly, Keith Mooney and Darren Marshall.Staff that have assisted include Technology teachers: Mr. Gerard Savage and Mr. Mark Rodgers, Mr. John Rath, Senior Teacher,Sean Higgins (Technology technician) and Mr. Tony Mooney, Head of Technology.The Abbey Christian Brothers' GrammarSchool, Newry, have returned from thisYear’s Esat BT Young Scientist andTechnology Competition with anunbelievable number of trophies and cashprizes following the presentation ofAwards by President Mrs. MaryMcAleese last Friday night in the RDS,Dublin. Each of the 14 pupils spreadacross eight projects won an award,ranging from Overall Runner-Up,Category Awards, Special Awards andDisplay Awards. It is quite unique thatevery pupil representing the schoolreceived something to recognise theirhard work put in over the last fewmonths.Fifth year student Kevin O'Reilly took theindividual runner up prize, one of the topfour prizes in the overall competition.Kevin's project was an attempt to classify theFreshwater shrimp, Gammarus Pulex, into afunctional feeding group.There was muchevidence of the gammarus species displayingomnivorous, cannibalistic and, to a lesserdegree, detritivorous tendencies.This hasmade it difficult to classify these macroinvertebrates into one functional feedinggroup. There was no doubt that theiradaptability, in relation to feeding, has beena contributing factor in their successfulcolonisation of Irish waters. Kevin workedFifth year student Kevin O'Reilly from Bessbrook being congratulated by Mr Val Kane, Vice-Principal(on right) on winning the Individual Runner Up prize for his project ‘Feeding behaviour of the FreshWater Shrimp Gammarus Pulex'. He discovered new information about its lifestyle in his project whichnetted him a cheque for £750 and a specially designed Waterford Crystal Trophy. Kevin worked under theguidance of Mrs. Margaret Lane, Head of Biology (second right) and Miss Deirdre Mulgrew.Also included is John Rath, Senior Teacher.under the guidance of Mrs Margaret Lane(Head of Biology) and Miss DeirdreMulgrew. At the prize-giving Mrs Lanereceived the British Council Teacher Awardfor the Biological and Ecological section.This award is presented to the teacher,selected by the judges, from the nominationof the students in the competition. This wasa wonderful accolade for the hard workingstaff of the Biology department.Not to be outdone, the TechnologyDepartment excelled themselves yet again.Ten awards were won for their sevenprojects. The two category winning projectswere both group projects. ‘Signal Express'won the Technology Junior Group section.It was an eye-catching display that modelleda school technology workshop anddemonstrated how a teacher could shut offpower to the machines using a remotecontrol. The three boys who impressed thejudges with this project were DarrenMarshall, Keith Mooney and DavidMcGovern. They also won a Display Award.Mr. Tony Mooney, Head of Technologyassisted the boys.'H2 Sensor' won the Technology SeniorGroup Section.This was designed andmanufactured by Rory O'Rourke, RyanO'Hare and Sean Donnelly. This devicesensed the high levels of Hydrogen Sulphidegas in a slurry tank/cattle shed. It warnedthe farmer and extracted the gas. The judgeswere quite amazed with this project and alsoawarded it one of the Special Awards ‘theABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 01

The Abbey Christian Brothers' GrammarSchool, Newry, have returned from thisYear’s Esat BT Young Scientist andTechnology Competition with anunbelievable number of trophies and cashprizes following the presentation ofAwards by President Mrs. MaryMcAleese last Friday night in the RDS,Dublin. Each of the 14 pupils spreadacross eight projects won an award,ranging from Overall Runner-Up,Category Awards, Special Awards andDisplay Awards. It is quite unique thatevery pupil representing the schoolreceived something to recognise theirhard work put in over the last fewmonths.Fifth year student Kevin O'Reilly took theindividual runner up prize, one of the topfour prizes in the overall competition.Kevin's project was an attempt to classify theFreshwater shrimp, Gammarus Pulex, into afunctional feeding group.There was muchevidence of the gammarus species displayingomnivorous, cannibalistic and, to a lesserdegree, detritivorous tendencies.This hasmade it difficult to classify these macroinvertebrates into one functional feedinggroup. There was no doubt that theiradaptability, in relation to feeding, has beena contributing factor in their successfulcolonisation of Irish waters. Kevin workedunder the guidance of Mrs Margaret Lane(Head of Biology) and Miss DeirdreMulgrew. At the prize-giving Mrs Lanereceived the British Council Teacher Awardfor the Biological and Ecological section.This award is presented to the teacher,selected by the judges, from the nominationof the students in the competition. This wasa wonderful accolade for the hard workingAbbey Grammar teachers win awards at ESAT BT Young Scientist and Technology Competition.Mrs. Margaret Lane, Head of Biology and Mr. Mark Rodgers,Technology teacher are congratulated byMr. Val Kane, Vice-Principal for winning a British Council Teacher Award each at this yearsESAT BT Young Scientist and Technology Competition in the RDS, Dublin.staff of the Biology department.Not to be outdone, the TechnologyDepartment excelled themselves yet again.Ten awards were won for their sevenprojects. The two category winning projectswere both group projects. ‘Signal Express'won the Technology Junior Group section.It was an eye-catching display that modelleda school technology workshop anddemonstrated how a teacher could shut offpower to the machines using a remotecontrol. The three boys who impressed thejudges with this project were DarrenMarshall, Keith Mooney and DavidMcGovern. They also won a Display Award.Mr. Tony Mooney, Head of Technologyassisted the boys.'H2 Sensor' won the Technology SeniorGroup Section.This was designed andmanufactured by Rory O'Rourke, RyanO'Hare and Sean Donnelly. This devicesensed the high levels of Hydrogen Sulphidegas in a slurry tank/cattle shed. It warnedthe farmer and extracted the gas. The judgeswere quite amazed with this project and alsoawarded it one of the Special Awards ‘theIntel Bursary Award. Mr. Gerard Savageassisted the boys with this project.Michael Stanyer's 'Forklift LoadDifferential Display' won another one of theSpecial Awards’ 'the Dublin Institute ofTechnology Award as well as third in theTechnology Senior Individual Section. Thisis a sensing device that indicates if the loadon the front of the forklift is balanced indangerous situations. This will activate theintelligent counter balance system. Mr. TonyMooney assisted Michael with this project.BARRISTER PRESENTS HISTORIC DOCUMENTSFOR THE LIBRARY OF HIS ALMA MATERGuest Speaker, Mr. Kieran Mallon, delivers some tremendous insight arising from hisworking knowledge of The Bloody Sunday Tribunal to an enthusiastic audience.Mr. Kieran Mallon, Barrister, presents Mr. McGovern, Headmaster,with a folio of evidence from the Bloody Sunday tribunal.ABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 02

ABBEY TO THE FORE OF THEGAELIC SPEAKING WORLDGarrett Doran collects his winner’s trophy after winning Gael-Linn’s prestigious public speakingcompetition ‘Abair’. Garrett’s satirical speech on the recent Royal Wedding, and an earlier speechbased on the Price of Driving ensured that the Forkhill man won the approval of both spectatorsand judges alike. Garrett’s winning speech can be heard on-line at the following addresshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/irish/blas/education/abair05.shtml.Only the second time ever to take part in theRaidió na Gaeltachta Senior Quiz, the IrishDepartment has now achieved back to backsuccess in the competition. Last year’s quizteam reached the All-Ireland semi-final onlyto lose out to eventual winners Coláiste naCoirribe of Galway. Team members SeanMcClory, Stephen Corcoran and DannyMcAlinden (captain) beat St. Colman’sCollege in the first round, and then facedSt. Patrick’s Academy Dungannon in thesemi-final. Despite a determined comebackby the Dungannon team, the Abbey heldout to win. The Ulster Final of the quiz, heldin Kelly’s Inn, Omagh, saw the Abbey Teamwin easily against Coláiste Lorgaigh ofClones with a final score of 122 – 60. Sean,Danny and Stephen faced the ‘Men and ofthe West’ Coláiste Múire of Galway in theAll-Ireland Semi-Final only to lose out byone question with a final score-line of 106 –100. Comhghairdeas leo uilig!ROSEMARYNELSONDEBATINGTROPHYFor the fourth time in the last five years,Abbey Grammar School pupils have wonthe N.I. Young Consumers Competition!The team consisting of Colm O’Grady,Paul White, Paul Henning and KevinWaddell qualified for the National Finalby winning their Regional Heat inBelfast on 24th. November 2004.On Friday 4th March 2005 they travelledto Lisburn to defend the trophy they wonlast year against the other Regional winners- St. Patrick’s College Armagh and St.McNissi’s College Garron Tower. At the endof a tough series of questions the Abbeypupils once again were victorious!The winning team was presented withindividual prizes and £500 for their school.The Abbey team of Seamus Brannigan,Gary O’Hare, Dermot Markey and PadraigPoland retained the Rosemary NelsonDebating Trophy today in a tense andinformative debate with the Sacred Heart.Sr. Anne delivered the adjudication andsided with the Abbey team who shaded itwith their ability to refute and rebut theopposition more effectively. Mr. McMahonchaired the debate whilst Oriel 2 provided theaudience.Mr. Morgan wishes to thank Sr. Anne, Mr.McMahon and the Sacred Heart team fortheir contribution to a very successful andenjoyable debate. Congratulations to thewinning students.CONSUMMATE WINNERSABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 03

Abbey Staff and pupils return to ZambiaAbbey pupils bring fun and laughter into the lives of Double Orphansat The Lubasi Children’s Home in Livingstone.‘EducatingThe Unknown’Zambian Immersion Project 2005Mark McGuiganLook around. Notice where you are, andwhat you are doing. Sitting on chairs in awarm assembly hall, in your tidy uniform,just after lunch, in one of the best schoolsin the country, watching a presentation ona large display.We have all become soaccustomed to this sort of thing that it isno longer unusual, in fact, it never reallyhas been.I want you to try, for just a few minutes, toimagine how life would be without all ofthese nice things, normal things, things wetake for granted. How easy would life bethen?While in Zambia, I spent a lot of my timeteaching in Ngwenya Community BaptistSchool. For 8 days I taught a Grade 5 class,the equivalent of a Primary 5 class, from7:15am – 1:30pm with only a short 20minute break in between.What immediately struck me was thebroad age gap in the class. The youngestpupil was a young boy named Joe, he was tenyears old. The oldest pupil was a boy namedEustas, he was sixteen years old. There are anumber of reasons for this broad age gap.Many people don’t start school at the correctage, many dropped out of school andreturned a few years later, many are forced toleave school to look after their family due totheir parents dying, and some are justrepeating a year.I also noticed a broad standard ofknowledge in the class. Of the 30 or so pupilsin the class, around half understoodeverything that was being taught to them.They would complete the work given quicklyand quietly, and would sit in silence whenthey had finished. The other half didn’tunderstand basic Maths and English. Theyhad great difficulty in doing any of the workwhich was set for them. In fact, I am stillunsure as to whether some of them couldactually speak English.On the positive side, I was in a schoolwhich has just recently been built. It hasindividual classrooms for each class and thebuildings are very modern. It also had somequalified teachers, as opposed to some of theschools which the other boys were in.Linda Community School and LibuyuSchool were just large buildings, about thesize of a school assembly hall. But there werelarge holes in the roofs, and all of the classeswere in the one room. None of the schoolswe visited had an abundance of materials.My class had two text books for each subjectto share between them.The YCTC (Youth Community TrainingCentre) which Michael and Kevin McManusvisited was a breath of fresh air. It was run bytwo of the Sisters based in Livingstone. SisterJosephine, one of the sisters, is an Irishwoman. She dedicates most of her time tothe young adults who attend the center. Thecenter consisted of a number of very up-todatebuildings, with a new hall drawingtowards the end of its construction and hada number of very modern computers andother machinery for the use of the pupils. Itfocused on the more vocational skills neededin the labour market.The people in the YCTC were mostlythose who dropped out of school. They werebeing taught basic Maths and English skills,as well as being taught how to use thecomputers and the machinery for woodwork,and clothing design classes. TheYCTC is a place which gives the local peopleanother chance to gain a good educationwhich can give them a good future.There is clearly a difference in teachingmethods in Zambia. Here in Ireland, we aretaught the material and encouraged to learnit to the best of our ability. In Zambia, thechildren are not taught the material fully, butare expected to know it.And now we are back in the AbbeyAssembly Hall. I have just one final thoughtabout my experience in Zambia. Please, nomatter what, don’t take anything you havefor granted. The people in Zambia have solittle, yet they were able to live life to the full.But we all seem to forget just how lucky weare!If you ever get the chance, which many ofyou here will, to do something whichinvolves giving a little back to those lessfortunate than yourselves, jump at thechance.A typical Zambian mud hut in the MarambaCompound which housed 6 people in one room.There are two houses pictured here.The Abbey Group pictured withBro. Mick Doyle outside St. Raphael’s School,the ‘Abbey of Livingstone’.ABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 04

Meeting the people living in theSawmills Compound in Livingstone.1 in 4 live with the AIDS virus.The Abbey group arrive in Lusaka(the Zambian capital)after a long ten hour flight.The Happy faces of the Double Orphans at theLubasi Children’s Home.Personal Reflection Zambian Immersion Project 2005 Kevin McKernan‘Seeing is believing’ – We saw, we heard, welived the African Mission’Before going out to Zambia I felt anxious,partly due to the fact that I felt I was personallyill prepared and it was definitely of my owndoing. I want to take this opportunity to thankSr. Anne, Mr Markey and Mr Grogan for alltheir help and guidance in making my owntrip a truly memorable two weeks.It wasn’t just 2 weeks but a year longImmersion which started with getting to knoweach member of our group on a personal levelincluding the three teachers. We had to letdown our guard and learn to trust in eachother and I’m proud to say that we becamevery much a strong group. A lot happened outin Africa and I want to share some of that withyou. I want to begin by thanking the wholeschool community, because without your verygenerous contributions we wouldn’t have beenable to take part in such a life changingexperience.When we arrived in Africa it was, on thesurface, a very scary place. We had beenprepared to expect a culture shock - but believeme nothing could prepare us for the cultureshock we all received. That might sound like acliché but believe me we experienced thecliché. Before going to Africa we all had seenthe pictures, watched the video footage fromorganisations such as our own Trocaire, butseeing really is believing and our senses ofseeing, smelling, hearing, touching and tastingZambian life was the eye opener.Seeing lots of black people standing arounddoing very little and women balancing hugebuckets on their heads holding children’shands as they walked along, brought it hometo us that we were not in Newry, but a differentcity in a different continent, that city beingLusaka, the capital of Zambia.As we travelled along the 7 hour ‘straightroad’ from Lusaka to Livingstone (the TouristCapital) we all felt nervous – what were wedoing here, why did we leave the safety andcomfort of our lives in Newry? Livingstone iswhere we lived and Fawlty Towers was tobecome home for our duration.Yes, when we arrived at Livingstone we wereall told to be prepared for a culture shock butI don’t think any of us were prepared for whatwe saw, and I don’t think we could have been,it was unreal.The boys just sat there all night ponderingwhat they had seen. I was speechless myself,and felt very homesick. I had only been hereabout 12 hours.Over the next few days I experienced manynew things and visited many people andplaces. One place that sticks out in my mindand in the minds of the rest of our group wasthe Lubasi Home. The Lubasi Home is run byIndian nuns and funded by people likeourselves, and is home to 40 “double-orphanedchildren.” This term “double-orphaned” was anew term for us and meant that these childrenhad no-one to look after them as most relativeswere dead.This was where I received greatestsatisfaction. I loved coming here and playingwith the children. To see the delight and lovethat they received from us has been etched inmy heart forever. It really inspired me. Itinspired me because these children had lost somuch in their short lives and it made me feelgrateful for what I had at home. These childrenwere so confident, they just kept askingquestions about my family and where I hadcome from.We met a lot of people in Zambia but twostand out in particular. These two people willnot mean much to you as you will have neverheard of them before, but two people we willnever forget; Brother Mick Doyle and SisterSheila Rice, and like us, they are Irish.Sister Sheila (who hails from Ravensdale)will be celebrating her 80th birthday in April,a legend as some of the boys described her. Shehas worked for 56 years in different Africancountries and greets you with the enthusiasmof an 18 year old and works like a Trojan.Some of us were unable to keep up with herwhilst out on the home-based care visits. Eachone of us takes for granted the great health wehave, but some in Zambia are bedridden orsimply cannot afford the money to get tohospital and it is Sheila’s job to try and makewhat is left of their lives as easy andcomfortable as possible. She is a straighttalking woman, inspiration would be hermiddle name, truly unbelievable. So much sothat they boys started to quiz Anne about howsomeone becomes a saint. I think in the 2 dayswhich I spent out in compounds with them Isaw some images which will live in mymemory.I saw people in their homes and waswelcomed in to greet the family. I saw blindpeople and deaf people, others had only daysto live, others maybe hours. I felt sick and sadat what I was seeing.Mick Doyle, the other person whom Iwould like to highlight, has been working inthe Abbey of Zambia, St. Raphael’s, for 23years. He helped to co-ordinate most of ourdaily visits. Without him the trip would nothave been possible.One thing which he said his pupils had wasthe enthusiasm for education and for leavingZambia. Their enthusiasm for education is fargreater than our own. We found this veryprovocative considering how materiallydeprived they are in comparison, and to acertain extent this has aided our ownappreciation of the extremely high standard ofeducation we are blessed with here.Mick Doyle was summed up by thedescription of him given by some of hisstudents. They were so grateful for theeducation which he was giving them theydescribed him as “a great man.” They showedhim great respect when around him andrespected what he had to say.We had two days, the middle Saturday andSunday, to be officially called tourists. Theheight of our experience as tourists was theVictoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (The SmokeThat Thunders). Mr Grogan and myself werethe first to see the Falls, and as I looked backand saw the faces of the rest of the group asthey witnessed this wonder of the world for thefirst time, it was like coming down onChristmas morning -they were stunned atwhat they were seeing, and all I could take inwas little remarks like “it’s class” and ‘’ O myGod look at the size of that”. Then all I couldhear from Ann was “imagine if Richard fell in”.Pictures cannot describe what we saw. Howcould you not be impressed with a waterfallover a mile long which discharges 2 milliongallons of water a second? This was a real treatfor us and took our minds off what we hadseen and witnessed in our first week in povertystricken Livingstone. However for us we couldsee the irony of all the water flowing over thefalls, yet there wasn’t enough of it a few milesaway to keep the crops from dying, and theywere dying, paving the way for famine inAugust.Darren, Mr Grogan and I were a teachinggroup which visited and taught in the LindaCommunity School. This School providedsome of the children with a bed, thedormitory, as it’s known. The teachers like theothers were volunteers and were only too gladto see us as it gave them a break from theirteaching; I say this quite loosely because whenthey saw us coming they took off for the day.At the beginning I found this strange but Isoon came to appreciate that they were justright to use us as they did. As I said, they werevolunteer teachers and got paid about 40p aday, that’s if they did get paid as some monthsthey didn’t.I taught a class of 18 children in a very smallclassroom about the size of a small gardenshed, but I was very lucky. I had an older andsmarter class, Darren was not so lucky. Minewere able to grasp the concepts that I wastrying to get across comfortably. As I have said,Darren was not so lucky It was a pity, they hadall the enthusiasm in the world to learn, andsome of Darren’s teaching will have helpedthem in some way.The ‘Whip’ was used a couple of times in theschool, and Mr Grogan and myself got aABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 05

The awesome Victoria Fallsglimpse of this horrific event. It wasunbelievable. I lay in my bed that night and Icouldn’t get it out of my head that the lovelywoman who gave us profiteroles for break andwas really nice to us, could do this, but MrGrogan made it aware to me that this was partof their culture and we could do nothing aboutit.However I did get great satisfaction out ofknowing that the children had actually learnedsomething from me. The children were soappreciative and extremely well disciplined.Every morning we took great delight ingreeting them, as they greeted us so well. ‘YesSir’ or ‘Yes my teacher’, was heard many times.They always had a smile on their face and Idon’t think I ever heard anyone cry.I thoroughly enjoyed the teaching and onour last day we had a fun day, no teachingexcept the homework from the night before. Ithink I did get a little angry when a few hadn’ttheir homework completed – hypocriticalmaybe on my part.The last day I wanted to make a memorableone and I think I did. I got each child to writea personal profile, which I have at home andhave read regularly since I have come home.Most of the children had lost a parent (throughAIDS) and were living in the school’sorphanage. It was awful. We had brought giftswith us for the children and we presented theschool football team with a set of Gaelic GearHealthZambian Immersion Project 2005Kevin McManusOn Friday 18th March 2005, we weregreeted outside the hospital by Fr. John,chaplain of hospitals and prisons inLivingstone. His role is to visit the patientson a day-to-day basis, support them, praywith them and help them through theirtime of need. He kindly offered to give us aguided tour of the grounds but first he gaveus some background information on thehospital itself.Background InformationIt was built in the 1950s and can cater forapproximately 250 patients However, at thetime of our visit only 60% of the hospital bedswere in use. Meanwhile many sick peopleremain at home, where they are forced toendure the sweltering heat and go withoutmedical attention for several days. Reasons forthis are varied but they can often be as simpleas a lack of money to pay the taxi fare to thehospital.Kevin Dyas is greeted in Chitonga by a BlindMan during a day care visit on St. Patrick’s Day.jerseys.It was amazing to see the gratitude on theirfaces and on numerous occasions they said tous “God Bless You Sir”. We gave our own classan Armagh T-shirt saying “Go Armagh: 2003,”a smile lasted about 5 minutes on their littlefaces. This was now their uniform.The teaching gave me an opportunity toreally get to know the children and I receivedgreat satisfaction from seeing them getting thequestions right from the topics I had taught.Who knows, maybe I have travelled to Africato find that perhaps I want to become ateacher.During the preparation for our trip, peoplewere asking the question, and maybe rightlyso, “would the project be worthwhile, why notsend out all of the money raised, instead ofspending some on getting us out there”? Afterexperiencing what we did, the Immersiongroup have only one answer – that is yes, it isworthwhile.‘If you give a man a fish it will feed him fora day, but teach him to fish and you will feedhim for life’: we all experienced this.No amount of money can give the personalattention we gave to the people we came intocontact with. To see the crying faces of thechildren as Darren, Mr Grogan and I leftLinda Community School for the last time, wehad obviously meant so much to these peopleand given them so much in such a shortMaternity WardTo begin with, we visited the maternity ward.We were directed to one mother who hadgiven birth to a girl that very morning. As weapproached her bed, I was surprised to discoverthat black babies have what can only bedescribed as white skin for the first few weeksof their lives.The baby looked perfectly healthy, and yet Iwondered what the future held in store for her.• Would her parents live to see her grow up?• Would she ever learn to read and write?• Would she contract AIDS in later life?If her mother was HIV positive, perhaps shealready had the virus. Even for one so young,growing up in Zambia means tragedy is neverfar away.Ward 9The next ward we visited was the femalemedical ward. Fr. John explained to us thatthese patients suffered from life-threateningconditions, such as tuberculosis and malaria. 4out of 5 had AIDS, making their chances ofrecovery extremely remote.As we approached the entrance, theatmosphere among us was rather moresubdued. From the uplifting sense of lifeassociated with the maternity ward, we got theimpression this room was to tell a differentstory. Behind Fr. John, I was first in. The roomwas dark, the sun beat down outside and it wasvery hot. An eerie hush descended as we filedThe sun provides a show as a new daybreaks over the African Horizon.period of time. To see the satisfaction on thepeople’s faces, to see the delight in thesepeople, makes us think twice about what wehave. What we have here in the Abbey and ourhomes is paradise.The people of Linda Community Schoolhad nothing, yet they were the happiest peopleI have ever met, and in comparison to us theyhad nothing to be happy about. The world isill divided and whilst we cannot do much hereabout that it does not stop me thinking aboutEmmanuel and Finness every day.I will conclude where I began.There was culture shock.There was poverty.There was illness.There was loneliness and homesickness.But,There was also joy and happiness.There was inspiration and hope.And above all, there was life.The seed has grown into something that,dare I say it, even Edmund Rice could not haveimagined. So, for those of us who travelled toZambia from Naas, Belfast, Dublin, Portlaoise,Thurles, Cork, and Down, we have heartwarmingmemories that will live with usforever. I am convinced,“Seeing is believing” and boys, we saw, weheard and we lived the African Mission.in. I became anxious that our presence wasperhaps unwelcome.As I scanned the beds I saw many wereoccupied by motionless bodies, often too weakto return our tentative waves We approachedsome of the beds and shook hands with thepatients but the language barrier madeconversation difficult. Even when I couldcommunicate with a patient I was stuck forwords. What can you say to someone who hasexperienced a realm of suffering far beyondyour own understanding? To that I had noanswer.As we left the room, Fr. John told us onepatient’s tragic story. A mother of two, she hadrecently lost one of her children. Her husband,from whom she had already contracted AIDS,divorced her and took her remaining childwith him. She now lay sick in the hospital andall alone. Her state of depression was sooverwhelming that she was refusing to speak toanyone, even Fr. John. For her I knew therewould be no recovery.Before we left, we gave Fr. John £200 to putto use in the hospital. He assured us it wouldgo a long way, but in terms of tackling theunderlying causes, its long term effect will beminimal. Without proper education and adrastic change in attitudes in both thedeveloped and undeveloped world, AIDS willcontinue to plague the Zambian people farinto the future.ABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 06

Musical Notes –Spring & Summer TermThis last term has been a very varied andexciting time for all involved in the MusicDepartment at the Abbey.In February the Abbey Jazz Band wereinvited to take part in a charity concert inBelfast, an event that was run by the UlsterYouth Jazz Orchestra. Apart from UYJOthere were many other bands, or rather jazzorchestras (they outnumbered our band inplayers by 3 to 1 making ours seem like atraditional jazz combo) from prestigiousschools such as Methodist College,Campbell College and Belfast RoyalAcademy. Although the Jazz Band initiallyfelt a bit intimidated, they rose to theoccasion and brought the house down withtheir more intimate and individual style.Garrett O’Hare on vocals developed a goodrapport with the audience and strongimprovised solos from Philip Knox, JohnMcEvoy and Cormac Boyle helped to bringthe house down.In March the Music Department heldtheir second Spring Concert. To a packedhall the orchestra opened the evening withRossini’s “William Tell Overture” playedwith speed and tightness of ensemble. Thiswas followed by the more demanding“Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” by Handel.Two outstanding performances came fromKilian Foy and Donal Fullerton performingon the descant recorders. The orchestraconcluded their set with a grandioso emaestoso rendition of Mussorgsky’s “GreatGate of Kiev” ably supported by threemembers of staff; Miss Quinn on violin,Miss McAleese on piano, and standing in atthe last minute to save the day, Mrs Carvillon timpani (what a talent – Gerry Morganhad better watch out!). The Junior Trad.Group made their debut, ably led by MrMonaghan on Uillean Pipes, with juniorboys on an accordion, a fiddle, a few tinwhistles, many bodhrans and countlessguitars. The recorder ensemble displayedtheir virtuosic talents again and the JuniorWind Band came up trumps. The choirperformed three pieces including: a livelyrendition of Irvin Berlin’s “Steppin Out”Other groups included the Barbershop, theSenior Trad Group, with the Jazz BandAbbey Choir – live broadcast – final pep talkABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 07concluding the evening. A great night washad by all with over 110 Abbey Boys singingand playing and many others helping asstage hands.April is the time of the Newry Feis and allthe Abbey entrants were looking forward toa successful event. The orchestra played outof their skins, raising the dynamics &tempos further; unfortunately it was not tobe our day. The Jazz Band retained theirfirst place and for the third year on the trotan Abbey boy won the compositioncategory, Philip Knox coming first withSean McClory and Steven Rice a closesecond. The junior members of the choirheld their own ably directed by Mrs Carvilland accompanied by Darren Magee. Unlikeprevious years the adjudicator’s commentswere not constructive or consistent, even somuch fun was had by all.Later in April the GCSE & A levelcandidates performed some of their recitaland ensemble pieces to a small butappreciative audience Many of the boysraised the music to that special level wherethe music becomes their own and iscommunicated with great sensitivity andcontrol. There would be too many tomention here, but certainly PatrickCourtney’s rendition of “She movedthrough the fair” will not be forgotten tooquickly – for connoisseurs of music don’tmiss the event next year!In May the Abbey Choir made their debutlive performance, broadcasting for BBCRadio Ulster from the Abbey Monastery.The focus and professionalism was excellentand all accomplished on two extra rehearsalsplus a bribe of Friar Tuck’s chicken burgersand chips. The choir and some of theorchestra have joined forces with singersfrom the Cathedral for a performance ofJohn Rutter’s “Requiem”. This took place inNewry Cathedral on Sunday June 19th at7.30pm. Forthcoming events to lookforward to are an “Irish Night” inSeptember, our third “Guitar Night” inNovember and in December the CarolService.A personal thanks to all boys, staff &parents who have helped make another busyyear successful and great fun.Mr Wadsworth – Head of MusicABBEYPRESSES FORWARDThis year saw the publication of two new titlesby the Abbey Press: Whereabouts by MarkRoper and 43 Poems by the late Attila Jozsef.Mark Roper hails from England but iscurrently living in Co. Kilkenny where heteaches. This is his fourth book of poems andhis second to be published by Abbey Press. Hehas been described by Bill Tinley as “…one ofthe most accomplished and engaging poetswriting in Ireland at present.” He has wonseveral prizes for his work and is currently onthe long list for the Michael Hartnett PoetryAward.Attila Jozsef (1905-1937) has been described byGeorge Szirtes as “…probably the greatest oftwentieth century Hungarian poets- certainly themost moving and most loved- and a figure ofenormous European stature.” Although dead formany years, UNICEF recently referred to Jozsef asa figure of major literary importance. Abbey Press,therefore, feels privileged to have co-published thisbook at this time.If you would like more information on thesebooks please see your English teacher or Mr.McMahon in M18.Here are two poems from Mark Roper’sWhereabouts.SWALLOWA spent fireworkon the lawn.Tiny feet stillhooked on space.Wings wind-sleek,head sleek with wind.So full of flightit must have diedof ripeness.In the tail’s Va stalk of sky.RED ADMIRALSOf the reddened leavesdrifting to earththree or four seemjerked into life,soft, erratic flameswandering on wingstoo gorgeous for gravity.Drunk on windfallthey settleon a white wall,bloody fingerprints,small fireson the edge of night.The world wheelsunder pitiless starsinto dark –after such darkwhat colourcan there be?A robin’s dull emberin the wreckof a tree.

PSHE IN THE ABBEYAbbey pupils gorging on a feast of information concerning healthy lifestyles.This year has been a busy year for PSHEin the Abbey, particularly for KS3 classeswith a number of presentations by variousagencies on a range of issues.In December, Newry and Mourne Drugand Alcohol Partnership gave an interactivepresentation on the dangers of drug andalcohol abuse to Year 9 students. Thepresentation included a DVD entitled,‘Catching the Dancing Dragon’ followed bya question and answer session. Students werethen presented with a drugs and alcoholinformation awareness pack to reinforce theinformation received in the presentation.Year 10 students attended the popular‘Icebergs and Babies’ Relationships seminarprovided by Dr. Barr and the Love for Lifeteam in March 2005. The presentation is amulti-media, interactive presentation anddeals with the pertinent issues ofrelationships, sexuality and adolescence.Students responded enthusiastically, honestlyand openly to the question and answersession as well as the survey at the end.In April of this year, each Year 8 class weretreated to a novel approach of learning abouthealthy eating and dietary habits. TheDietician from Daisy Hill Hospital presenteda hectic and fun-packed half hour to eachgroup where they learned about food groupsand portion sizes and gained valuableinformation on healthy lifestyles. The sessionwas followed up with information sheetsbeing sent home to parents suggestinghealthy snacks, brain booster tips andalternative menus.ABBEY READING WEEK: MAY 23rd – 27thKS 3 English classes were involved in anenjoyable and successful reading weekrecently. Students were encouraged tobring in material to read for ReadingWeek and also had an opportunity todiscuss books and magazines which theyfound enjoyable. Each class alsoparticipated in a book swap.A successful library quiz was alsoorganised for the duration of the week withbook tokens awarded to prize-winners inYears 8, 9 and 10. The winners were:Gerard Watters, Donard 1; Owen Carlisle,Slemish 1; Niall Cunningham, Oriel 2;Eamon Murphy, Oriel 2; Rory O’Brien,Oriel 3 and Karl Heaney, Donard 3.Students also produced colourful andattractive posters and bookmarkspromoting reading week, with individualteachers rewarding the best work withprizes.The highlight of the week wasundoubtedly the visit of author and mediacontributor Jude Collins. Jude spoke to anumber of classes about his experiences ofreading, writing and school and also read anumber of entertaining and witty extractsfrom a selection of his short stories. Theboys then quizzed Jude on a range of issues,mostly revolving around how much moneyhe made from writing!Mr. Jude Collins shares some of his childhood experiences with first year pupils during Reading WeekABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 08

Annual Trip to Londona resounding successJust some of the memories staff and pupils shared on their stay in LondonMy trip started on the 10th of March at3.00am. I got up and had my breakfast, Iwas so excited. I gathered my luggage andproceeded to the school for 3.45am. Allmy friends were there in the dark. Theanticipation was unreal. I had never beento London before so I didn’t know what toexpect. The bus arrived at the school andwe all put our luggage on the bus. Wepiled on and made our way to Dublinairport. When we arrived atapproximately 5.45am we immediatelycollected our luggage from the back of thebus and went directly to the check-in deskfor Ryanair.I could feel the excitement starting to getmore thrilling. Eventually we started to fly.At 9.30am we arrived in London,collected our bags and then got into thegroups that we were told to go into.My guardian for the next few days wasWilly the caretaker.We walked to the front of the airport tomeet the bus that took us to view the sightsof London, like Buckingham Palace, BigBen and then we had lunch in Mc Donald’srestaurant. In the afternoon we went to seeMadam Tussaud’s Wax Museum; it was good‘craic’. I got to make a waxy hand in theDown county colours, red at the top andblack at the bottom.We got our dinner in an Italian restaurantwhich I did not enjoy, because I don’t likeItalian food, but the next few hours made upfor the disappointing food. We then went tosee THE LION KING. I had neverexperienced anything like this before. Theatmosphere, the music, the acting were allexcellent and I would recommend this showto everyone.The first day was almost over and by thisstage I was feeling pretty tired as I had beengoing from 3.00am that morning.Eventually we got to the youth hostel wherewe were staying and it was now bed timesuchbliss!I slept in a room with my cousin John andfriend Conrad; we played a few card gamesand then fell asleep.The next morning we got up and had ourbreakfast in the youth hostel; I had bacon,egg and toast. The day was planned out forus to go and visit the RAF Museum and theNatural History Museum and this took upmost of the day, approximately 5 hours.Then it was teatime, I had chicken and chipswhich I enjoyed much more than theprevious night’s meal. We then went to theNamco Centre which was absolutelybrilliant; although you had to watch yourmoney as this was a well known spot for pickpocketing.I was looking forward to the next day; itwas a visit to Hamley’s Toy Store, and it waslike a wonderland for all age groups. Ibought a few gifts to take home and spentmost of my time in the games room withJohn and Conrad.The day was coming to an end and it wasnow time to proceed to the bus to visitCovent Garden where we bought some jokeobjects (all too rude to mention).The bus was waiting to take us back to theairport as it was now 4.30pm and we shouldbe getting prepared to meet our familiesagain.When we checked in at the airport I ranghome and explained to my mother that Iwould be home in Newry at 1.00am. Iarrived home at exactly 1.00am TIREDAND EXHAUSTED, but I enjoyed everyminute of it, and would recommend thistrip to any new first years.FERGAL McEVOYORIEL 1ABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 09

BANK OF IRELAND MACRORY CUP QUARTER FINALABBEY BOYS FAIL TO OVERCOME OMAGH CBS INA CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE DOUR KINDOMAGH CBS 0-7ABBEY CBS, NEWRY 1-3A goal in the last minute by Abbey’s StephenQuinn wasn’t enough to get the Newry schoolinto the hat for the next round of this year’s Bankof Ireland MacRory Cup. Omagh CBS greetedthe final whistle with relief at a wet and windyMonaghan Harps ground with their ChristianBrothers’ opponents pushing for the equaliser inthis low key quarter final match. The Newryschool shall be disappointed as they won morepossession than Omagh CBS but a combinationof not converting this possession into scores andpoor passing in the final third of the field led totheir downfall.The game started with the Abbey captain andUlster Colleges Hurling Allstar, EoinMcGuinness, leading the way and pointing theopening score after driving forward frommidfield. Then Omagh got three unansweredpoints. The first was from Shaun O’Neill afterdetermined work by Cathir Tierney. This wasfollowed by a good team effort out of the Omaghdefence that led to Kevin Gallagher in fullforward latching onto a point. Abbey’s KevinDyas, at centre half back, was beginning to showwhy he has been an Armagh county minor for thelast two years with his ability to break downmoves and set up attacks for his own team.As the weather conditions deteriorated bothteams, to their credit, battled with the elements.Mistakes were made on both sides as passes wentastray and balls skidded on the greasy surface.Nippy corner forward Shane Coyle gave theTyrone school a two point cushion when hegathered a ball that had slid under his marker andwith only the ‘keeper to beat blasted the ball overthe bar. The Abbey forward line was re-organisedand Stephen Quinn pointed the last score of thehalf after good work by his team mate SeamusToner.Half time score Omagh CBS 0-3 v AbbeyCBS, Newry 0-2.Omagh started the second half stronger andscored a point in the first minute when their bigmidfielder and Ulster Colleges’ Allstar SeanO’Neill latched onto a ball following interpassingfrom Shaun O’Neill and Kevin Gallagher.Silverbridge’s Gerard McGarvey pulled a pointback for the Abbey before Gallagher got onto apass that had been fielded by Tierney in themiddle. Another one of Omagh’s three footballAllstars, Stephen Donaghy, playing in fullforward, pointed a free to give the Tyrone schoola three point lead.Midway through the second half MichaelMcAllister in the Abbey goals pulled off a greatsave from Omagh’s Conor McCullagh, diving athis feet to put the ball around the post. Burren’sKevin McKernan was trying to drag his schoolback into the match with his display in midfield.The Ulster Colleges’ Football Allstar wonpossession for the Abbey as he fielded numerousballs under pressure from his opponents.Omagh CBS moved into a four point lead inthe last ten minutes when their captain RonanMcRory scored the school’s last point fromtwenty metres. Rather than continue to attack,Omagh pulled players back to defend their leadand this nearly cost them the game as the Abbeypushed forward to get that elusive goal. In thisthrilling period numerous balls were lobbed intothe Omagh square but each time they were eitherblocked or cleared by a stubborn defence.Defenders like Hugh Gallagher, John Cassidy,Joey Kelly and Dean O’Neill were not giving uptheir lead without a fight.With five minutes left Abbey’s Stephen Quinnmissed an important close-in free, but he madeup for his miss a few minutes later when Dyaspassed to him and ‘soccer style’ he danced arounda few defenders and slotted the ball low into thenet in the final minute. Much as they tried to getanother score, the Newry school were out of time– the goal had come too late.Omagh must raise their game for a semi-finalagainst either St. Michael’s, Enniskillen or St.Patrick’s, Maghera as another performance likethis shall not be good enough to get a day out onSt. Patrick’s Day in Casement Park in the final.Although they shall be satisfied that ‘the job wasdone’ they know that it was too close for comfortand that if the Abbey had possessed more scoringforwards then the result could have beendifferent.Teams and scorers:Abbey CBS Newry: Michael McAllister, MarkDigney, Darren Fegan, Rory Grant, Robert Ryan,Kevin Dyas, Darren Rowland, Kevin McKernan,Eoin McGuinness, Captain(0-1), StephenQuinn(1-1), Cathal Magee, Padraig McGahon,Seamus Grant, Gerard McGarvey(0-1), SeamusToner. Subs used: Ruairi Cunningham andBrendan Allen.Omagh CBS: Kerill Winters, Hugh Gallagher,John Cassidy, Joey Kelly, Dean O’Neill, BrendanMartin, Mel Cassidy, Sean O’Neill(0-1), CathirTierney, Conal McCullagh, Ronan McRory,Captain(0-1), Shaun O’Neill(0-1), ShaneCoyle(0-1), Kevin Gallagher(0-2), StephenDonaghy(0-1). Subs used: Conor O’Donnell andCathal McCarron.Referee: Michael Convery, Derry.ABBEY WAY June 2005 pg 10

ALL STARS ARE WEEoin and Kevin coverthemselves with honourFirst Ever Hurling All Star For Abbey CBSForward: Eoin McGuinnessSchool – Abbey Grammar, NewryClub : Newry ShamrocksEoin has been playing Hurling for 10 years.Achievements:• Represented Down at U-16 and Minor• Vice-captain of Down Minor• U-12 South Down League and Championship winners• U-14 South Down League winners• U-16 South Down Championship winners• U-14 Féilé ‘B’ Winners• All Ireland Feile Finalist Divison 4• Right-corner forward : Eoin McGuinnessEoin has represented Down at U-16 and Minor level and was vicecaptainof the Minor team last year. With his club he holds under12 South Down league & championship medals, under 14 league,under 16 championship and a Down Féile na nGael B medal. Eoinis Captain of the Abbey CBS MacRory Cup team.Centre-half forward: Kevin McKernanSchool – Abbey Grammar, NewryClub – St. Mary’s, BurrenKevin (a lower Sixth student) is the 38th Abbey player to receive afootball All Star and the 39th player to receive one overall in the 18years of the Ulster Colleges GAA All Stars.He follows fellow Burrenteam mate, James McGovern, who also won a football all star at FullForward last year. With Burren, Kevin has represented his club atminor, U-21 and Senior level. He has won an U-21 South DownChampionship and in the same year helped his club reserve team toa county championship title. He is also an U-14 South DownLeague Winner.Kevin is a current Mid Field player with the Abbey MacRoryteam. Last year he was sub goalkeeper.He was also called onto theDown Minor panel in 2004 and has been a member of the DownDevelopment squads since U-14 level.His father is BrendanMcKernan who played on the Down senior All-Ireland winningteam of 1991.KILLOWEN MAY 2005In May 2005 a group of thirdyear pupils went to the KillowenOutdoor Pursuits Centre for aweekend along with MrMcCullough and Mr O’Neill .A range of activities is on offerthere including rock climbing,abseiling, hill walking, canoeing,wet and dry bouldering, traversing,football and sailing .Third Years are given theopportunity to experience theseactivities and the venue varies fromyear to year- last year we went toShannaghmore near Newcastlewhich also proved very popularwith our boys .Here are some pictures givingyou a small flavour of what is onoffer at the Centre.A small flavour of what the Abbey pupils enjoy everyyear at the Killowen Outdoor Pursuits Centre. Allpupils are advised to book early with organisingteacher Mr. P. O’Neill.