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Contents

The newtown review, a student publication, relies on the information received from the wholeschool community, we endeavour to ensure accuracy in all areas and we apologise for anyunintentional errors that have occurred and may have caused upset or offence.

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This year’s review team began much smaller than most years’ and so we knew we had a big challengeahead of us when we went to our first meeting. When I (Daniel) first volunteered to be student editor I didn’treally know what was expected of me except that I somehow had toorganise the making of the Review that everyone loves. Thankfully, with the guidance of Ms Coady and MsMaher and the hard work of all the team, we managed to pull it together.

At the start of the year the small team worked away, doing the best we could. We managed to get a fewarticles here and there but eventually we realised that in order to finish the Review we had to bring in someoutside help and so we opened up applications to the Review team again. That’s where I (Cathy) came in,I was delighted to help and towards the end I think we really came together to work as a team. As we got

closer and closer to the end of the year everyone really focused all their efforts on getting their part of theReview done. It was brilliant seeing all thedifferent pieces of the review coming together to form what you’re reading now.

We would like to thank everyone who submitted articles (or had them dragged out of them) orpictures or helped us along the way. Thank you to all the teachers and coaches who helpedarrange and get in articles and pictures from students. Thank you to all the hard working members of theReview team for the time and work they dedicated to the Review, and finally to Ms Maher and Ms Coadywho we wouldn’t have been able to do without.

Working on the Review team has been a bit of a roller coaster and there have even been times when wethought we wouldn’t be able to get it done but every challenge has brought the team together and it’sbeen a lot of fun. If there’s one thing that we would have done differently it’s that we would’ve gotten morepeople to join the team and so we encourage next year’s fifth years to sign up straight away, the earlier you get started, the easier it is. We wish next year’s team all the luck in the world and we hope you enjoyreading.

Daniel Morris and Cathy Teevan

 “It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve

twice the distance of any bird flying alone” Anonymous

Welcome to the 75th edition of the Newtown Review. The Review highlights the many excitingexperiences, events and activities that students participate and enjoy throughout the academic year. TheReview team worked together and overcame the various challenges they encountered to create a publica-

tion they can be proud of. We wish them the very best as they move forward into 6th form.

Tara Coady and Sinéad Maher

Student Editorial

Staff Editorial

  NEWTOWN REVIEW 2014/15

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Review Team

Student Editors: Daniel Morris and Cathy Teevan

Creative Director: Seán Óg Cafferkey 

Sports Editor: Aaron Vogelaar 

Photography: Sophie Lee

Head Journalists: Caoilinn Brady and Lucy Allen (not pictured)

Fashion Coordinators: Anna Boyd and Caoilinn Brady 

Head Interviewer: Matthew Treacy 

TY Correspondent: Isabel Auld

Rest Of The Team: Estime Bongu (not pictured), Conor Kenny (not pictured) and Alexandra Gingell

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Hello friends.“Live Adventurously”. The oft quoted Quaker phrasechallenges to push the boundaries, move from ourcomfort zone and grow as people and a communitytowards a better world. It is quite a challenge.This year has been a year of many challenges as we navigatethe new world of the “Free Education Scheme”.As with adventure there is the uncertainty of the path ahead and the challenges that may appear and there is theexcitement of something new around the corner. We must be prepared to step out and live. The school will be full tocapacity this September at 350+ students with three class groups entering 1st Form. Boarding numbers are holding with an

increase in the 1st Form boarders from last year’s intake. These are all good signs which need to be built upon.An exciting adventure with the Department of Education and Skills is being embarked upon as we look at upgrading ourteaching and learning facilities into the future. We also need to look at our boarding facilities and continue to developthem to provide a holistic boarding experience that forms the foundation of living and working together as a community.As ever to this we will require funding and last year we were very grateful to receive a large donation to redecorate theboarding houses.This generosity of giving is wonderful and reflective of the nature of the school which encourages all to give kindly ontoothers in many different ways. Speaking of giving I must thank all those who have volunteered their time to school over thelast year, from those who came to lead us in Collect, or speak to students to all those who have served oncommittees or associations connected with the school. A big change has taken place in our governance structure this year.The school, under the direction of our Patron Body (a committee of six members of the Religious Society of Friends), hasmoved towards a Board of Management structure of eight members to oversee the Management and Governance of theSchool. This Board replaces the School Committee of 36 people and its various subcommittees. A large thank you should

go to all the members of School Committee and the subcommittees for their endeavour and commitment over the years andin particular to Debbie Bailey, the outgoing Chair of School Committee, who has worked tirelessly for the school over thelast six years as Chairperson. The new Board of Management will be chaired by Redmond O’Donoghue who will bring hisvast experience to the school.I wish Redmond and the new Board well as it too embarks on the school’s new adventure.I wish this year’s 6th Years every success in their lives ahead. Robert Frost came up in their English exam and I encouragethem to be brave and thoughtful in all their decisions in the future whichever of the roads they may travel. Gillian Dennistonis also embarking on a new stage of her journey as she retires from life here in Newtown School. I thank her for her greatcontribution to the school in teaching, boarding and her general “bonhomie”. I am sure we all wish Gillian (and Edward,who retired last year) every happiness and blessing in retirement.Trying to decide what to write for this introduction to the review has been difficult for such a busy year with so manyhighlights and changes that have occurred. But this is the nature of life, constant change- the definition of life itself!, with allthe time decisions having to be made.Living in a community such as Newtown our decisions have an impact on each other so everyone has a responsibility to

think, and act in a manner that is considerate to others. This is often hard to do. Our Quaker beliefs encourage us to act as Jesus did and be servant helpers to others, often putting others before ourselves and always treating others as we wish tobe treated ourselves.As I reflect on last year and look forward to the next I try to hold onto this principle for all of us living and working inthe school.The pages of this review give a taste of many of the activities from the year. It cannot reflect all the small personalsuccesses and failures that take place each day but as you read I also encourage you to reflect on your own year andhighlight the good things and look forward to the future with hope and encouragement with the knowledge that even ifthings don’t go right, we can learn from the experience and then make things better for the future.

Thank you to the editors and contributors to this review and I wish you all every blessing for the year ahead.

In friendship

Keith 

Welcome to the

Review 2014/15

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Staff List

Michael Ashmore

Gretta Barry 

Bernadette Bennett 

 Valbone Bhatiri

Helena Bruncikova

Terry Butler 

Breda Callahan

Tara Coady 

Eithne Colclough

Mary Collins

 Andrew Cox 

Betty Croke Aimee Crokee

 Alice Daniels

Catherine Daniels

 Alina Dauksaite

Kim Delija

Gillian DennistonClaire Dillon

Paul Dooley 

Mary Farrell

Emma Fitzharris

 Anne Foley 

 Joan Glasheen

Iris Graham

Claire Guyon

Zofia Hadbavna

Regina Hanley 

Gerard Hanlon

Doreen Hilliard

Patricia Hogan

 John Hourigan

Charlotte Hughes

 Viktoria Ivanchenko

Emyr Jones

Soikans Josephine

Elizabeth Kavanagh

Paul Keappock Siobhan Keappock 

Sally Kearney 

Mary Kelleher 

 John Kennedy 

Helena Kennedy 

Heather Kennington

 Aoife Keogh

Karen Keogh

Maria Keohan

Brideen Kirwan

Noreen Lawless

Keith Lemon

 Amanda Lennon

Hugh Lyons

Betty Maher 

Sinead Maher 

Bernadette McGettigan

Kathleen Moran

Donal Motherway 

Donna Murphy  Aoife Noctor 

Séamus Ó Cuinn

 John O’Brien

 Jean O’Carroll

Donal O’Connor 

Mary O’Connor 

Deirdre O’Driscoll

Patricia O’Shea

Kevin Pim

Terry Pulbrook 

 April Rellis

Bryan Ronan

Karen Rowe

Fintan Scanlon

Declan Sexton

Peter Taylor 

 Andrew Wall

Marian Wall

Maria WalshGeraldine Walsdorf 

Richard Winters

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Staff Interviews

  Terry Pulbrook 

 What do you do in Newtown?

Head of Boarding.

 What did you study in college?

Music, Philosophy and French.

 What did you do before you came here?

I taught for many years, some of those years inBoarding Schools, then became Head of Boarding inKilgraston School, Perth, Scotland.

How is Newtown different from other places

 you’ve worked?

It is less formal than other schools I have I have workedin, and the students have greater freedom.

 What’s it like looking after girl’s dorms? A pleasure! Keeps me on my toes!

 What’s your favourite memory here so far?

Meeting my colleagues for the first time and being struckby how nice they were. Then my first meeting with all thegirls and feeling very privileged to have specialresponsibility for them.

Kevin Pim

 What do you do in Newtown?

I turn off lights, and then turn them on again in themorning. I could do this upwards of 50 times a day.During the rest of the time I put my energies intobeing a change agent for unruly young adults.

 What did you study in college?

Hotel management, H.R. teaching and now TVproduction. You’d be surprised how much I’ve neededall that I have learned up to now.

 What did you do before you came here?

I’ve always been here, came through the front gatefor the first time when I was several days old. The bestthing involved backpacking on an around the worldticket and spending eight months in a campervan

travelling around Australia with my family. I discov-ered early in life that money will come and go, lifeexperiences accumulate.

How has Newtown changed since you

came here?

 Well back then students were happy with spelling outrude words while turning a calculator upside down,none of that ‘Snapchat’ stuff back then.

 What’s it like looking after boy’s dorms?Do you think I could write a ’tell all’ and have itpublished in the Newtown review? Yes all of thestudents are lovely… very polite.

 What’s your favourite memory here so

far?

 Anything? A lot of the women are married now ofcourse… Seriously though, over the six years ofplaying rugby here in Newtown we lost eleven times

to Glenstall Abbey, the moment the whistle blew onthe twelfth time and we had finally won. When everything seems to be going wrong at the onetime, I bring myself back to that moment.

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Gapper Interviews

  Brigette Broaders

 Where are you from?

Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Also Paradise,Newfoundland.

 What do you think of Newtown so far?

I think Newtown is an interesting school, far differentfrom the school I went to, and it is a welcome change.

 What made you pick Ireland for your gap

 year?

History and culturally my strongest roots are fromhere and I wanted to see what it was like.

 What’s your favourite memory here so

far?

That would probably be interacting with the studentsin a positive way.

 What were your first impressions?

My first impressions were that the school could beintimidating and now I know that isn’t true.

Have you learned anything from your time

here?

Patience. Lots of patience.

 What will you do after this year?

Currently I am enrolling into university forCriminology; hopefully that is what I’m doing.

 What will you miss most about Newtown?

I think I’ll miss the vibe of the school and all of itsquirky characters.

Miriam Enkel

 Where are you from?

I am from Canada. I was born in Ontario (near Toronto)but moved to Victoria, British Columbia for secondaryschool.

 What do you think of Newtown so far?

I really like it. I love how teachers are so welcoming andfriendly and everything is pretty laid back.

 What made you pick Ireland for your gap

 year?

I applied to the UK and Ireland but Ireland was my firstchoice because I had never been before and heard thatit was an amazing country with friendly people.

 What’s your favourite memory here so far?

I loved going to see “To Kill a Mockingbird” in Dublin!But I know there are many more to come.

 What were your first impressions?

Newtown looks really fancy and impressive compared tothe modern schools in Canada!

 What’s your favourite lunch?

Definitely the chicken wraps!

Have you learned anything from your timehere?

Still learning as I go along but I’ve learned to put myselfout there more.

 What will you do after this year?

I’m going to university in Canada and I plan to studyPrimary Teaching!

 What will you miss most about Newtown?

I will miss the laid back and friendly environment of theschool and getting to see different parts of Ireland onschool trips.

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Nick Popplewell was born in Dublin in 1964 and rst started attending Newtown at the age of thirteen. There he made many great memories and honed his skills at rugby. He went on to make the Leinster andthen Irish team as loose head prop. He went on to win 48 caps for Ireland and started for the British &Irish Lions in all three tests against New Zealand in 1993. We were lucky enough to get in contact with MrPopplewell and ask him a few short questions about his career and his life as a Newtown student.

Nick Popplewell

 Where are you from?

I moved from Dublin to Gorey when I was 8so I have always considered myself a ‘YellowBelly’. I have lived in Killinick, Wexford for the

past 15 years.

How did you rst get started playing

rugby?

I went to Brook House Preparatory school when I was nine and I started playing rugbythere. I continued playing in Newtown when Imoved there at the age of 13.

 What is your proudest achievement?Being picked for the Irish and British Lions in1997 (I think) and playing in all three tests. We beat New Zealand in the second test, which was my only victory against them I had over 10matches.

 Who are the greatest players you’ve played

 with or against?

 With: Simon Geoghagan, John Murphy 

(Greystones and Ireland), Rob Andrew, DeanRyan (Wasps, England), Martin Johnson, BrianMoore, Dean Richards (Lions), FrancoisPiennar (South Africa and World 15). Against: Every New Zealand player I haveever played against, their professionalism andlevel of tness was second to none (obviouslyIreland have moved on since the 90’s and cancompete with every team as their world rankingshows).

 What was it like playing for the Lions? The proudest moment of my career, Ireland alwaysstruggled in my day, and being given the opportunity to

play with world class players allowed me to concentrateon a props core duties, no disrespect to the Irish set upbut senior players at the time were always covering forother players which added a lot of pressure, nowadayseveryone is more than capable of holding their ownagainst any opposition. So in a nutshell it gave me a lotof freedom on the pitch.

“Newtown gave me

the discipline to always be

fair on the pitch”

AN INTERVIEW WITH

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 What was your favourite experience

in rugby?

Probably playing professionally for three years with Newcastle.

 What did you think of Newtown when you

rst came?

I had been boarding since I was 8 in BrookHouse, so that aspect wasn’t new. My previousschool Brook House had only 60-70 boarders

and you had to wear a uniform, they also hadcorporal punishment. So Newtown gave me alittle bit more freedom, it was obviouslybigger, was co-ed, and you could wear whatyou liked. The ethos there was denitely a

little more relaxed and free spirited.

Do you feel your time in Newtown

inuenced your rugby career?

Indirectly yes. Newtown gave me thediscipline to always be fair on the pitch, we were a small school rugby- wise whoparticipated in the Munster B division, so wedidn’t take the sport over-seriously, we also

played hockey in the same season, and this was at a higher level. Rugby -wise we hadn’tthe numbers to compete with the likes ofRockwell and St Munchin’s but in our day wecould compete with anyone on the hockeypitch. Many schools (like Blackrock) tookrugby too seriously in my view and manyplayers were turned off it and simply gave up when they left, this didn’t happen inNewtown.

 What is your best memory of Newtown?

I don’t think I could pick one...

• Playing so much sport.• Captaining Red Clan.• Playing a Leinster Hockey nal with

my 3 brothers (we lost).• Food was great.• Weekends in the Comeragh’s

“The ethos there was defnitely a little

more relaxed and free spirited”

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focused and talented (he would probably sayhe was more talented), I ended up playing forGreystones, he ended up playing for Old Wesley. I was fortunate there were less people

going for the loose head prop position inLeinster at the time whilst there were a lot moreplayers going for Chris’s wing forward position.I played against Chris in a nal Irish trial (yearsago this is how they picked the Irish team) andhe was by far the best player on the pitch buthe wasn’t selected and I was, so luck will alwayshave a strong bearing on achieving youraspirations and “The harder you work, theluckier you will get”

  organised by Mr. Garbett.• Teachers were great and very fair.

I don’t like mentioning names as, being50, I will probably forget a few.

 What would you say to aspiring young

 players?

• Enjoy it.• There’s a position for everyone.• Be fair.• Stay t and focused, eat sensibly, and

drink sensibly.

 As an aside from the age of 13, I wanted to

play for Ireland and my good friend Chris Pimalso had this aspiration. We were both equally

“the harder you work, the luckier

you will get”

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“I made great friends and enjoyed the

boarding experience”

He attended Newtown from 2008 to 2011 when he went toGermany to pursue his show jumping career.Bertram Allen’s love of show jumping began at the age of

eight. Bertram made his international debut on the IrishNation’s Cup team in 2013 and in 2014 he won the rst legof the World Championship to become an overnight star.Currently he is ranked in the top ve show jumpers in the

 world and he shows no signs of stopping. Bertram waskind enough to do an interview with us.

How did you enjoy your time in Newtown? Was it hard

balancing your school and your career?

I really enjoyed my time in Newtown. I made great friendsand enjoyed the boarding experience. Balancing my showjumping and school was relatively easy as the school was

 very accommodating.

 Why did you leave and move to Germany?

I went to school in Germany for transition year and didn’t

come back!

 Where in Germany are you based? What’s it like

living away from home?

I live in Hünxe near Düsseldorf. At rst it was hard being

away from home but I live with a great couple and know Ineed to be based in Mainland Europe for my sport.

 When did you start riding? Did you ever think you

 would get to where you are now?

I started riding at about 8 and no I never thought toomuch about where I was going.

 What achievement are you most proud of?I think my recent result in the World Cup Final and winning the Dublin Grand Prix.

 What is your average day like?

My average week day is riding at home and most weekends I am at a show.

 What’s it like being one of the top ten show

jumpers in the world?

It’s great.

 Who’s your favourite horse?My favourite has to be Molly.

 Who has helped you to get to where you are?

Lots of people have helped me, most importantly myfamily.

Do you keep in touch with anyone from

Newtown?

 Yes I keep in touch with a good few; Brian

Kenny, William Hickey, Ben Doyle to name a few.

 What advice would you give to aspiring young

riders?

My advice to aspiring riders is to work hard and love what you do.

Bertram Allen

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I was only a newly starting teacher but in those days for

those particular two terms there were only two people insixth form. One of them came from the north and hisfather was quite famous at the time, and he was a verygood scholar. So that was 1952 and then I came in 1959and in my rst year I was studying post graduate work.I was supposed to be on a very light timetable but thetime table didn’t turn out to be very light because things were being considerably added on to me. I think whenthey saw that by then I was reasonably experienced and with that result I taught almost full time but I was onlypaid an absolute pittance. The next year I was teachingfull time as a recognised teacher and I taught from 1959

to 1977. I went away after that to be headmaster in SligoGrammar School.

 Who was the housemaster when you were in school?

I don’t think we had one; we didn’t have anyone who was known as the house master. I suppose the nearest

to that would’ve been William Boggs the maths teacher,everybody was afraid of him and he lived in the dorms.People like Sam Macloure, Eric Decourcy and I; we livedin the school and we did duty in the school, as well as ourteachings.

NEWTOWN REVIEW 2014/15

Newtown in the 70’sInterview with Leslie Matson What subject did you teach?

 Well I taught French and at one time and one period I was

teaching leaving cert and upper transition. I was the onlyteacher. That soon changed when Bishop Foys closed,and after that we had two streams of French. I actuallytaught quite a number of things; I taught Irish for a short while and I think the reason for that was that the people who were learning it were just as bad at Irish as I was, butnot quite as terrible. That was a class of slowish learnersbut they had some very interesting people in the class. Ialso taught maths to leaving cert pass, I had done quite alot of maths at school but I wouldn’t have been able totackle the honours maths. In sixth form anyway there wasonly one girl doing higher maths at the time and she was

being taught by a gentleman up from the technical school who was a real mathematician.

 When were you in Newtown?

I taught for two terms from January to July 1952. I cameon a temporary job, I wasn’t actually thrown out at thatstage and I taught French then. It was difcult because I was only a raw teacher and of course they had asuccession of completely awful French teachers who were very incompetent, not very contentious, and the result ofthat was that I was left with very tough assignments. Ofcourse I wasn’t great at discipline either because

“If you ask a teacher a question, they will give you

the answer and I do apologise for how long my

answers are but that is just in my

nature of being a teacher, to answer fully”

 Who was the principal?

 We never called him the principal, we always called him theheadmaster. When I was there in 1952 it was Liam Glynn andhe was an interesting, gentle, straight, companionate man anda very nice person indeed to work with. I was proud in laterlife to have written about his life in the Déisearchaeological historical magazine. I respected him; he was very keen on French and perhaps even keener on Irish, even

though he himself was a Belfast man. There is so much totell about him that I’d better stop. In 1961 Liam Glynn retiredand by that stage he was married to Gladice Glynn who wasthe secretary and also the senior mistress. They got marriedin their sixties and this caused a great surprise in the wholeschool. Everybody was happy about it but it still caused greatsurprise because they were very different people in manydifferent ways; he was a bit slow about management whereasshe was rst class at all that and she in fact has never had thecredit that she deserves for the work that she did forNewtown. Liam was then replaced by Maurice Wigham.Maurice had come some years before, I would say offhand

probably about ve or six years before from St Columbus toteach science. This was after Leicester Smith who was thescience teacher died and Maurice came from St Columbussince in those days it was considered necessary and verydesirable to have a Quaker as headmaster, Maurice was

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obviously pinpointed as everybody knew he was going to be thenext new headmaster. He was a man of intense integrity andkindness but not a great disciplinarian, but he knew that himselfand made no bones about it. He was a lovely man to work with,except a lot of the dirty work he didn’t do because he was tookind, so people like Sam Maclour and I had a fair share ofdisciplinary work to do.

 Which year was your most memorable?

Memorable suggests that it was exciting or that I wouldn’t stop it,but if I could change it I would say which do I remember most,it’s certainly my rst year, 1952. I could almost tell you all thepeople in the school at that time because in your rst teaching jobit’s stuck in your memory for the rest of your life; the people who were there and I can remember where people were sitting and various things. Now these people who were pupils at that timeare now grandparents, if not great grandparents!

Did you make any lifelong friends from Newtown?

 Yes. I suppose the person that I had most to do with was Maurice Wigham, because he was our next door neighbour. I was veryfriendly with Liam Glynn and in his later years, when he was inhis 90’s, I visited him regularly out in Tramore where he wasstaying in a home out there and Fefe was a friend of minebecause we never socialised together very much, he was a moresocial character then I am. But I had intense respect for him andI think to some extent that respect was swapped. He seemed toget on with me well. Another person that we were very friendly with in later years was Louis McEvitt and Elizabeth Carter as she was Elizabeth Walker. She was a close friend of me and Joan andMary Hamilton who was the assistant matron and was in fact thegodmother of our second child, Sheila.

Do you know of any changes that have occurred since youleft?

 Well now I can’t answer that question really because I don’t know what the present stage of life in Newtown is like at the moment,even though I’m involved with the archives to a small extent.Nevertheless that’s basically about past time not present timebut I am quite satised that the school that’s there now is verydifferent from the school that was there in my rst days and allthe time I was there. It was very different, and I’m not sayingthat it’s worse or that it’s better, I’m just saying that it’s differentand that’s, in a way, the way school should be. It shouldn’t remainstatic, but certainly I look back on my years in Newtown at

having been doing a job which was interesting and perhaps insome respects unusual.

Do you have a favourite memory from Newtown?

 Well favourite again is one of those words that I nd hard tointerpret but I’ll tell you a funny memory that stays in my mind.Rex Webster was a lacking teacher and the senior English teacher,and he was an intensely scholarly man and he was at Newtownfor a long time. Rex came up to retirement age and the pupilscollected up some money to give him a present. Now mostpeople in the school at that time were scared stiff of him, they wouldn’t have crossed him under any circumstance because he

had, what I can only describe as, a wicked tone. He couldeliminate somebody in two sentences. And he came out in frontof the school to accept his present which was actually a collectionof long playing records and I remember well his speech and hesaid “I do not know why you have given me this ‘present’, I canonly assume it is a thank you offering for my departure.

I have been a school teacher for 25 years and that periodI’m very glad to say, I’m heartily glad to say, is over.I’m not going to say that I will miss you all or that I’ll missthe school and everything because it wouldn’t be true.” Helifted his hand and said ‘VALE’, and that means farewell inLatin. That’s one memory that remains beautifully with me.

 What advice would you give to a boarder in

Newtown?

I can only give advice to a boarder for the time that I wasat Newtown but if somebody said to me ‘I’m going to bea boarder at Newtown’, I’d be very tempted to say ‘Don’t.’I think in many ways boarding school life is impoverished with good home life, that’s actually a better situation. Itdepends on the boarding school; I couldn’t make anyjudgement on how true that would be for Newtown atthe present time. The boarders in general in Newtown are very happy. Somehow I feel that a good home life withplenty of books around you and many of the Newtownpupils came from many backgrounds where reading andadventures were very important to families. On the whole

I think it’s better to be a day pupil.

“I look back on my years in Newtown as having been

doing a job which was interesting and perhaps in

some respects unusual”

Did you learn any life lessons from your time in

Newtown?

Most of the lessons that I learned I learned for particularperiods but they wouldn’t be accruable to all my life. Onelesson I did learn, and I’ll put it in the words of GladiceGlynn, ‘In school either the teachers are in charge or the

bullies are in charge.’ I always believed strongly that if theteacher was not in charge of what was going on in theirclass they weren’t doing much good for anybody. Onedoes not have to be cruel, but certainly one has to be incharge.

 What ve words describe Newtown for you?

Passive; kindly but rm discipline, craic; people had fun atNewtown, romance; people had lots of romance atNewtown, even though technically it was forbidden incertain places, happiness; we all had cause to be happy.

 What was your favourite term and why?My favourite term was always the summer term. It wasalways really lovely because there was cricket going on andin the mornings the clans would come out and roll thecricket crease and it was always a pleasant timelooking forward to long holidays. None of the staff wouldhave ever corrected the leaving cert or inter-cert studentsas they would now. It just wasn’t done. The term up toChristmas was always very busy because I was involved inproductions of school plays on a few occasions and that was very heavy going, also in the rst two terms I wasinvolved in hockey because I used to coach the boys

hockey teams. Even though the exams were there thesummer term was always the most relaxed. Most days they weren’t hanging over you like the Sword of Damocles.People were more at ease about taking the exam and yourperformance in the leaving cert; it wasn’t going to set thepattern for your whole life like people nowadays assume.

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Interview with Des Daunt

 The one thing about Newtown that I really liked was that

everyone was like your extended family because allteachers and masters and mistresses took a very keeninterest in what the pupils were doing. There were a lot offun things that were organised like excursions, nowadaysI’d say that kind of thing goes on all the time but backin the ‘70s it was a treat for us and schools would nothave done a lot of trips like we had, we were lucky in thatrespect. You learn so much more about your friends andschoolmates outside of class than you would if you just went home at the end of the day.

 That built up the friendships and made them stronger

because you saw people in a different light. When you were challenged it was always interesting to see howdifferent people would react and we got to learn that overthe years. I was in a small form, there were about forty ofus between X and Y, and twenty-nine of us did theleaving together. I’ve met half or more of them sinceleaving school.

 What is your favourite memory of your time in

Newtown?

 There are a couple of things. Through sport I likedplaying hockey and we got to the nal of the Leinster cup

against Avoca in Londonbridge road in Dublin. LeslieMatson was the coach and that was a great occasion.From a club point of view there was a motorcycle clubin Newtown which was located down behind the hockeypitch up on the bank. There was a house over there and we had a Honda 50, we did a bit of scrambling in thataround the grit pitch and that area over there and that wasso much fun.

 What advice would you give to a student in

Newtown?

Get into things, get involved. You will make plenty offriends but you have to go and make the effort yourself.Not everything will come to you; you have to go to it.

Did you learn any life lessons from Newtown?

 When you make friends, Newtown taught me a lot abouthow to keep friends. I learned a lot about openness,transparency and being truthful. At the same time youhave to enjoy everything that you do.

Do you have any funny anecdotes from your time?

 There was one in school and one out of school. The oneout of school was when we were in fth form and we went to Clifton. About sixteen of us went. The girls thatcame were lucky enough to sleep in the house but the ladshad to sleep in an army tent in the garden and it piddledout of the heavens for the week but that didn’t matter.Roger Johnson was in charge of us over there and one

morning we decided to go shing in the bay at six o’clock inthe morning and we got into the boat to go out.

On our way out we managed to crash the boat into the rocksand put a huge crack in the front of the boat. We started tosink but thankfully nothing more dramatic than that happenedand that was a huge excitement at the time.

 What ve words describe Newtown?

Fun, friendship, honesty, life experience and establishment.

 What was your favourite school dinner?

 They used to have upside down cake on the menu and it wasMadeira and it had peach and lemon drizzle on the top of it. That was always nice and everyone queued to get that, andagain for seconds.

 What was your favourite term?

I liked the winter term when we went back after the longholiday in the summer. Back then I really enjoyed hockey andrugby and that was when they really got going. It was the factof getting into a routine again; I enjoyed that and it was alsothe longest term. During that term we had the dance whichthe band in school that played at that and it used to be onaround the Halloween weekend. The two guys that played inthe band were Simon Crowe and Garry Roberts. They later went on, along with Bob Geldof and a friend of his who went to Blackrock College, and formed a new band called theBoomtown Rats.

“You will make plenty of friends but you

have to go and make the effort yourself”

Newtown in the 70’s

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Interview with Julie Brown

 What was you favourite subject?

 That’s a difcult one because I had lots of favouritesubjects. I have to say English, Biology and OutdoorPursuits.

 Who were the housemaster and headmistress when

 you were in school?Mr Wigham was head master at the time and there was aMs Porter who was in charge of some of the dormitories.

 Which year was most memorable for you?

I was in Newtown for three years and I would think thelast year 1974 when we were all seniors.

Did you make any lifelong friends?

 Yes; lots and lots of them. Those lifelong friends wouldhave been scattered all over the world, which is acharming characteristic of Newtown, and I still

communicate with them today.

 What was your favourite memory of Newtown?

My favourite memory would be friendships but during theLeaving I built a canoe because I had a week betweensubjects. It wasn’t exactly a normal thing though the canoeclub was very active at that time. I have a lovely memoryof the west of Ireland and climbing the twelve pins with a walking group in fth form.

 What advice would you give to a student or boarder

in Newtown?

 To make use of all their spare time in other subjects, make

sure that they get involved in everything that’s going onaround the school. It’s very easy to sit down and relaxand not head into computers and things. I think otheractivities are very important to get involved with becauseit does bring you forward and give you good experiencesfor life.

Do you have any funny anecdotes from your time in

Newtown?

It’s not exactly funny but something that will always stay with me is that, because I was very big into swimming,I used to get up very early before breakfast and go for aswim before school. Back then the pool was an outdoorpool and after a few lengths the mist coming off the pool would become so thick and just oat into the air and asyou were swimming you had to tackle away the mist. Wealso raided the kitchen at times but that’s not somethingI can say. Most of my stories I can’t really say as, you

know yourself, I might get into trouble.

 What ve words come to mind when you think of

Newtown?

Friendly, inclusive, educational, exciting and academic.

 What was you favourite school dinner?

 That would be… rice pudding with strawberry jam.

 What was your favourite term?

My favourite term was always the summer term for thelove of sports. I loved doing exciting activities and the

theatre, all that type of thing.

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Short StoriesMary Mac and the Afros

Raymond Clancy was standing in the wings of thestage, listening to the massive crowd of over tenthousand people trying to nd seats, chatting, gettinghyped up for the band of the century “Mary Macand The Afros!” His band had had about twenty various number ones such as “Smokin’ Haddock,”and “Dreary ol’ Sweetheart”. A song about a lovedold woman who was very boring! The band wasjust nishing their world tour and it had taken themabout three years and Raymond was extremely

excited to get back to his own bed and his ownhouse. He had one nal interview to do before thatcould happen however. He was due to be inter- viewed in the World TV studios after the gig and he was dreading the question he was always asked atinterviews; “Now tell us Clancy, what was theinspiration for your band’s name, the famous MaryMac and The Afros, and who the heck is this MaryMac?” And Raymond was so tired of keeping itsecret that he had decided that he was nally goingto tell them the truth.He continued to watch the crowd, getting more and

more restless waiting for the group to come on stage,the roadies had set up all the instruments and thepyrotechnics were timed and set. Clancy began torehearse the songs in his head and then his thoughts wandered to the dreaded interview again. Mary Mac was so important to him he really needed to do herjustice. The rest of the band appeared by his side, Jim the crazy drummer, Peter the bass guitarist andlastly his best friend Pat the lead guitarist, togetherfor the last time on this tour. They ran out onto thestage and the crowd surged forward screaming theirnames.

Exhausted and sweaty they nally got off the stage,after many curtain calls, and toasted the best tour sofar. Clancy then stumbled back towards hisdressing room and had a shower while going over hisanswer to that dreaded question in his head. Afterthe longest shower of his life, he got out and lookedat the time. He was late. He moved aside a pile offan mail and threw on his clothes. He then met up with Jerry, his 6’7” security guard who owed Clancyhis life (long story). Jerry guided him through thescreaming fans and onto Clancy’s beloved Harley, which had been kept in his trailer because everyoneknew if that Harley got one scratch Clancy would walk off the tour! He then raced over to World TV’sheadquarters in downtown Los Angeles where theinterview would be lmed in front of a live audienceand televised to seven billion people!

Clancy parked up the Harley and went into thestudio where he sat patiently having his makeupdone and greeting people he would be on ‘the couch’ with. He waited for his cue and nally walked outto be greeted by the host Robert Horton, Clancy saton the couch with an actress on either side of himand the interview started. Clancy almost switchedoff as the questions followed the usual pattern andhe responded with the practiced answers that healways gave although the audience did not seem tomind that they had heard them before. Finally heheard the words he had been waiting for as they werealways asked “So Clancy tell us how did you come up with the name of the band and who is Mary Mac?”Clancy took a deep breath and glanced down at the

tattoo on his left wrist and started to speak.Clancy explained that Mary Mac was a teacher inschool who had recognised his potential for musicand who had worked to encourage him to performin school and to follow his dream. His parents hadnot believed in him and wanted him to be anaccountant and they did not believe that singing was a real career… so far nothing unusual about thestory! Robert Horton almost looked bored as thestory unfolded, he had a minute ago thought he wasabout to have the story of the year and that themysterious Mary Mac was a lover or something

exotic but he was so mistaken, “Yet another tale ofan inspiring teacher”, he thought. Clancycontinued with his story lost in thought, Mary Machad one year shown him the songs she had written asa teenager and Clancy had used them as the basis ofhis best known hits. He had bet Mary Mac that if thesongs were ever successful she would have to have aperm and live with really curly wild hair and this bet was a long standing joke between them.Clancy realised the audience was listening to every word and he very quietly explained that a year ago when ‘Smokin’ Haddock’ the last of Mary Mac’s

songs reached number one he received a photo ofMary Mac with the wildest afro hair he had everseen. He had planned on ying home after this tourto celebrate with her and to toast her talent. Herfaith in him had never wavered all these years, Clancythen looked at the audience and after a long pausehe told them that quietly Mary Mac passed away last week and she had never been publicly recognisedfor her talent and he never got a chance to see heragain. Tears owed down the faces of the actresses(yes, they were good!) and Clancy nished his storyby saying “I am glad I shared her story with you as

behind everyone there is great talent and people whoare inspirational and I hope you all nd your MaryMac”.

Finn Brady

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Tyche

 

 The joker grinned up at him from the cards laid outbefore him. He could already feel his blood

quickening. That. That feeling was what he wanted. The single moment where he knew he’d already won.He licked his lips, tasting blood and relished theavour.His opponent shivered, raising his head beforesetting his shoulders and throwing his card down.He knew his smile was manic when he saw the black6. He’d won, obviously. The scab on his lip crackedand he felt the blood seep lazily from the corner ofhis mouth. He tossed down his joker and sat back inhis chair smugly.HE’D WON, AGAIN. His opponent’s eyes

 widened and in the split second before he could run,there was a knife in his throat. HIS LUCK WOULD ALWAYS WIN.“Sorry for your loss.” He frowned, pulling his knifefree and inspecting the blade carefully. He sighed.He’d won. Again.

* * *

 The door to the block was already open when I gotthere and I grumbled as I kicked the y-ins out ofmy way. They grumbled back and I frowned at their

uorescent fur till they got sad and ambled out oftheir own accord. I slammed the door after the lastone had shufed out and glanced at the landlady’s window. The watch light was on so I rang the bell. A fewseconds later the old woman opened her lacecurtains and peered out at me through the thickglass. “What.”“There were more blow-ins.” “So? What’s it got to do with me?” “Nothing.”

“Exactly.”I shrugged. She frowned and drew the lace curtainagain. I watched her gure fade away and glanced atthe current building plan. I was on oor 5,apartment F. And there he was, just below me in 4F. As usual,nothing but a wall between us. I headed to the fourthoor.

***

My eternal neighbour, despite the building shufeevery 36 hours, was a freak. His loudconversations with the plants on his balcony wereoften the rst thing I heard in the morning. He would stand shirtless on his balcony and proclaimhis love for his geranium ‘Elizabeth’. He also liked to

play old world music in the dead of night. Ihate music.I knocked on his door and before I could registeranything I was on the ground, a large purpleblow-in panting down at me. I frowned andshoved it off. “William! Get in here! Go to bed!”I sighed. That voice, it haunted my dreams. The

blow-in panted and licked my face, ignoring thecall. I scowled straight at it and it sulked, its taildrooping as it shufed back sheepishly.“Sorry about that,” a hand was offered and Ipushed it away, struggling laboriously to my feet.“He isn’t usually that bad.” My scowl deepened.He’s shorter than me, white uffy hair andunblinking orange eyes swallowed by a huge greenhoodie.“I don’t care.” His eyes crinkled in a smile.“Awesome,” Who even says that anymore who isthis guy? “I’m Nix.” He offered his hand again.I looked at it doubtfully. “And you’re myneighbour.” I took his hand rmly, glaring straightinto his stupid orange eyes.“Keep the noise down.” I tried to pull away, buthis grip tightened before I could.“Or what?” His smirk was wide and I inched atthe gleam in his eyes.“Or nothing. Let me go.” He pouted and releasedme, the danger in his stance fading to imagination.“What a shame.”“As lovely as it was getting to know you, I havethings to do.” He grinned at me, pointed teethashing as I started walking away. “See youaround Kes.” I ignored that I’d never told himmy name.

***

Later that day I broke my favourite mug in half.Unlucky.

***

 Wait, unlucky. No, there was no way that freakneighbour of mine was doing this. 8 beats 7 and A beats all. See, I understand the rules. I always

have. And my luck has NEVER been broken.

***

 The knife at my throat was a new thing. I wasalmost as surprised as you are. I could smell theblood and for once it wasn’t that exciting. At least the wielder was taking too long enjoyinghis power trip and still hadn’t actually killed me. Amateur, obviously this was his rst win. I let himhave another minute to gloat until I decapitatedhim.I watched his head roll and contemplated my

loss. The 8 should have beaten the 7, but forsome reason he’d had a 9. My luck was slipping.

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***

I knocked on 4F, taking a step to the right to avoidthe inevitable attack coming my way. Not a secondlater, the door was swinging open and William wasbarrelling straight at me enthusiastically.“Howdy doody neighbour.” I scowled from whereI was being head-butted into the wall, shoving the

blow-in off me and striding through the doorway.My hand was at his throat before he could blink (notthat he ever seemed to blink), his back hitting theimsy wall soundly.

 

“Who the hell are you?” My face was twisted andugly, a guttural snarl ripping through my chest and Ifelt the adrenaline running through my bloody andtwisted veins, the pounding of my heart deafening.His smirk, a slow and smooth twist of his lips madeblood bubble in my throat, a re raging through myspine.

“You haven’t gured it out yet?” My grip tightenedand his eyes narrowed critically. “Stupid, violent boy.Betting your stupid, violent life on a game of luck. What a shame, you really could have lived a beautifullife.”“Shut up.” What does he know about luck this pieceof trash. “You know nothing.”“I know I broke your luck. What else is there?” Hethrew his head back, wheezing laugh cutting the airbetween us. “No game? No life. I heard thatsomewhere once, quite tting now.” My heart stills.Of course I knew it was him but he’s an actual luck

breaker? Do those even exist outside the manuals? They don’t die do they? Ever. This panic is unnecessary look at him he’s tiny andhe can’t even breathe look at him sucking for breath who’s unlucky now you crossed the wrong mantrash. This ends here.“Let’s play. Your head or mine.” He laughsbreathlessly. “Stupid boy.”

***

Kes: 1Nix: 5NIX WIN!Kes: 3Nix: 2KES WIN!Kes: 7Nix: 5KES WIN!Kes: 6Nix: 10NIX WIN!Final draw. Pick it up, win or you die.Kes: J

 Yes, this is it. I believe in my luck. I have to win.Nix:ANonononononnononononononononononononono.NIX WIN! No.CLAIM YOUR PRIZE! No.“Stupid boy”

***

Maybe I was a “stupid boy” all along. But I lived for what I wanted. I lived free of regret or burden. Luckbreakers did not exist. But I was never meant toeither. A perfect child with perfect unbreakable luck was unheard of. The system existed to ensure that itstayed unheard of. And so it did. The more I grewand learned, the more I disappeared.

***

“But then again, I kind of like having you as aneighbour.” His smile was radiant, the needle at mythroat slacking.“Let’s hang out together sometime. Plan on tearingdown the world together, maybe?” I swallow.“Maybe.”

Sarah Anne Bakker

NEWTOWN REVIEW 2014/15

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1919

Two Sandwiches in Wagen No. 4

I open my eyes and blink into the bright sunlight. Itbreaks on the tiny dust particles oating peacefullythrough the air. The train slows down; we must bereaching Malawi soon. The heartbeat-like sounds of

the train settle down. I can see buildingsapproaching, a big grey mass of tall concrete giants,possibly some European company buildings.I get pushed against the table in front of me as thetrain comes to a sudden halt. I watch the peoplegetting onto the wagon, pushing each other as theytry to get a seat. I’m surrounded by women withlowered heads and hidden faces, trying to keep theirchildren close. By men carrying big bags of Godknows what and many emotionless faces. People are waving at the relatives they are leaving behind. Theymust have started to evacuate people too. I hear a

quiet voice behind me mumbling something whiletapping my shoulder.“Sorry?” I say, turning around. It’s a small boy in a worn out T-shirt, ripped jeans and leather sandals.“Is this seat taken, sir?” he asks, now in a slightlystronger willed tone. He points at the seat oppositeme.“Make yourself comfortable”, I say smiling at him asI put my camouage bag on my lap. I study his face.He can’t be older than nine years old, ten maybe.“What’s your name, boy? “ I asked him. He givesme a scared look, that’s what they all do these days.

 We’re here to ght for our nation, to keep thesepeople safe and they call us the green snakes. Theyare scared of soldiers; they think that we shoot themfor selling illegal Chinese products or chewing chaton the streets.“What’s your name?” I ask again. My softened voicethis time must have calmed him down.“Casim “, he still looks frightened. “And yours, sir?”He must have seen the nametag on my uniform buthe ignored it. I’m glad.“You can call me Samo.” I don’t like being calledby my surname. In fact I hate it. It is the name my

father carried. The last time I saw him was 19 yearsago when he drove away on his motorbike with ahuge bag swung over his shoulder. Three minuteslater I found my dead mother lying on the kitchenoor with two knives sticking out of her rib cage.“Where are you headed to?” I asked Casim. Hisswollen ngers close around the light bike he carries with him.

 

“Zambia, they said we should escape, go as far as way as we can but my brother couldn’t afford a ticketto Chipata so I’ll have to nd another way of getting

there.”“Where is your brother now?” I ask.“He… he sent me away to be safe, he wants tojoin you, the army I mean”, Casim’s voice goes very quiet, he’s trying to hide an impending sob.

 The landscape outside the window is turning into

a rusted metal shade now, shadows of single treesstretching out like long protecting arms.I have to think about my wife and my baby son,Koru. I’m afraid this time they will have to waitlonger for my return. The rebels are getting strongerand the government needs all of the help they canget out. I guess Casim’s brother is not much olderthan Casim but the army will take him, they needhim, if he can carry a gun. The woman with the food trolley is coming closer.I asked my quiet companion if he is hungry. His eyes widen in surprise.

“Yes!” he shouts.“Yes, sir”, he says apologetically but I just smile. This is probably the rst time in quite a while that hedoesn’t have to earn his own food. And it might bethe last time, my last chance to enjoy your meal otherthan dried meat strips and canned fruit so I’mgenerous and get the two of us sandwiches,chocolate and drinks.I wish I could be sitting here with Koru. I wish Icould have spent more time with him and my wife. After nishing our meal we start talking about hislife. He grew up with his two older brothers in the

suburbs of Malawi. At the age of ve his older brother died of malariaso he had to survive with his other brother. Casim was able to go to school for one year because hisbrother had a full-time job, but then the companyred underage boys and the two brothers had tond employment on the streets. They cleaned shoes,sold small items like chewing gum or cigarettes andsometimes they were forced to beg.I was always more privileged. In the life changingsummer that my father killed my mother I went tolive with my aunt in the countryside. I got a goodeducation. The only job I ever had to do in mychildhood was a summer job in the shop with mycousin. When I think back to that time I hate myfather even more. Instead of being there for us hedeprived me of a mother. And now I can’t be therefor my child. It’s pitch black outside now. The trainmoved so fast the only thing my eyes can hold onto are the stars. Casim changed train two hours ago.Nearly everybody has left. I can see a few soldiersbehind me, sleeping or smoking cigarettes. We willarrive at the front tomorrow.I hope this will soon be over. I hope I will see myson again. And if I don’t, I hope when he is old enough he willbe proud to carry his father’s surname.

 Vicki Ebert

  NEWTOWN REVIEW 2014/15

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2020

NEWTOWN REVIEW 2014/15

Poetry

Clouds

Darkness splashed on my heart,the day the cloud came to town.

 All my dreams fell apart,the day the cloud came to town.

My favourite pen ran out of ink,the day the cloud came to town.I rang a plumber to x my sink,the day the cloud came to town.

I feel pain, I feel pain.I feel no love, am I insane?

No word… No noun,the cloud was in town.

Bill Madigan

 A Girl’s Head

I don’t know  what I’ll nd there.

It’s like going intoa mysterious cave

 where stalactites and stalagmitesare beautiful but sharp.

 Wonderfully weird things which I will never comprehend.

 There are precious diamonds and emeraldsshining like the stars.

 There are twisted thoughtsthat are like

complicated labyrinthsthat make me

LOST

Franciszek Czekala

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Ideas

I had a good idea once.It oated down from the sky,

Like a feather. Slowly getting closer.

 A gust of wind carried it away  And I rushed to be under it.

It’s gentle sway from side to side

 Teasing me which way it will go.

 When eventually it lands in my head, A ame ickers from an end.

I run inside to try and put it outBut it ignites and is ash in seconds.

 And so I go back outside and lookUp to the sky for good ideas.

 John Jephson

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1s t Form

Favourite film of the yearFast & Furious 7 

Favourite TV show

The Simpsons

Favourite music artistEd Sheeran

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Most lik ely  to… 

Become t he ne x t Cara Dele v ingne Emma Pim

T ak eo v er 3 Ireland Ethan Roche

Marr y  a f armer/become a f armerSusannah Doy le

 W in t he Grand Nat ional Harry  Allen

R eplace Za y n in One Direction Zain Ishtiaq

Cure ebola Et han Roche

Star in Made in ChelseaKimberley  McGannon-Pat tern

R eplace  Jerem y  Clark son on T op Gear Lucca Allen

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Favourite film of the yearInsurgent 

Favourite TV showPretty Little Liars

Favourite music artistHozier 

2nd Form

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Mos t lik el y  to… 

Become  the ne x  t Cara Dele vingne 

 A bb y Fitzmaurice

 Tak eo ver 3 Ireland 

Finn Brad y

Marr y a  farmer/become a  farmer 

I van  A llen

 Win  the Grand Na tional 

Samantha Fole y 

R eplace Za yn in One Direc tion 

Stefan Sumstad

Cure ebola 

Ror y MacDonagh

S tar in Made in Chelsea 

 Tessella Cunningham

R eplace  Jerem y Clark son on  Top Gear 

 Thomas Dra yton

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Ski Trip We arrived in Switzerland on the 31st of January andtravelled to Haut-Lac Centre. The journey was longbut everyone was so excited when we saw the snow.

 When we got there we met the ski instructors who were all really nice and funny. We got our skis andthen we were put into our teams; Eagles, Warriors,Sharks and Raiders. We played a few games and wentto bed.

 The next day we walked to the slopes. It was onlya 10 minute walk which was great. We divided into

groups; beginners, intermediates and experts. Therst day was great and when we got back to thecentre we all played games and won points for ourteams.

By the third day all the groups were skiing down themountain. By the end of the week the beginners were skiing down the red slopes, and theintermediates and experts on the black slopes.

On Wednesday we went tobogganing, which wassuch good fun. The next night we had a movie nightand ate lots of Swiss chocolate after we had justgone shopping in the town beside the centre.

On our last day we had a race down the blue slopeon the mountain. We all bought pizza in the smallcafé at the top of the mountain. That evening we gotour medals and enjoyed the disco.

 The next morning we left early and said ourgoodbyes and thanks to the instructors. Everyone

 was sad to be leaving. The trip was an amazingexperience and a chance for the year to bond andeveryone got on really well. We all miss it loadsand have made lots of memories. Thanks to MrO’Cuinn, Mr Hanlon, Ms Glasheen and Ms Keoghfor accompanying us.

 Abby Fitzmaurice

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‘To Kill aMockingbird’ TripOn the 7th of May, 2015 the 2ndform attended a play based onHarper Lee’s ‘To Kill aMockingbird’. Set in Alabama, this

novel took place during the era ofdiscrimination against black people(1920s).

 

 We set off on our two hour long voyage to the Bord Gáis Theatre,Dublin to see the play formedfrom the book that we have been

studying. We were seated withoutany delay. The play commencedpunctually with narrators recitingthe rst chapter to the packedtheatre. The fascinating play

continued up to a break so peoplecould rell their sweet stashes.

 The play recommenced fteenminutes later and the second part was a lot better than the rst part. The penultimate scene, the courtscene, was the highlight of the

play for everyone. It was exhilarat-ing. The play concluded a short while later and reluctantly, wedeparted from Dublin to our newdestination, Newtown School.

 We all thoroughly enjoyed theexperience and we would like to

thank Ms Lennon, Ms Coady,Miriam, Ms Fitzharris and Aoife

for making the trip possible.

Ethan McInerney

‘The Phoenix Challenge’ is an AllIreland Scouting Competition wherea team of ten test their skills at rstaid, backwoods (lighting res andsurvival), pioneering (knots) andorienteering. The challenge lastsve days and took place in MellaryScout Centre, Co. Waterford. We

 were welcomed by the Chief Scout. The challenge began by building ourteam structure. We built ours quitequickly; we had been training allsummer for this. We built a table,re, food preparation area, utensilstorage, wash area, bins andrewood storage area. Two Icelandictents were put up, one for sleepingin and one for storage. This is calledcamp craft and is marked daily toensure that all lashings are tight and

secure. This year’s challenge alsoincluded building a gateway that would t all members of the teamin safely. 

The Phoenix Challenge 2014 We had seven hours to complete

this task. 

 Two members from eachteam then travelled to Waterford toparticipate in a range ofactivities whilst the remainingmembers hiked around Mt Mellaryto collect twelve ags, we onlyfound half of them though. This

 was followed by ‘backwoods’ andhaving to make a three course mealfrom an apple, orange, banana, tworaw sh and four squares ofchocolate. The hike to the rstaid base the next day was difcultbut got easier, next was the shinghook challenge where we had tomake a hook out of a piece ofbamboo, and a rope challenge.Sunday saw us attempting to breakthe World Record with a hula

hoop. At the closing ceremony I was nervous to hear the results ofthe challenge, my heart was beatingso hard in my chest that I thought

everyone around me could hear it. We won! The 18th, 26th Ferrybankgroup had won this year’s PhoenixChallenge. I was so happy. We were presented with the trophyby the Chief Scout and won thetrophies for all the bases and campcraft. The Phoenix ag waslowered and presented to ourteam. It just didn’t seem real! Allof our hard work had paid off and

the blisters from my hiking boots were denitely worth it.

Daniel Evans

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3rd Form

Fa vouri te  film o f  the  year 

Shaun  the Sheep

Fa vouri te  T V sho w 

Pre t t y L i t tle L iars

Fa vouri te  music ar tis t 

Mc Pa t Fl ynn

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Most  lik ely  t o… 

Become t he ne x t  Car a D elev ingne  J J Rose nbe r g 

T ak eov er  3 Ir eland  Jame s T r e acy 

Mar r y  a f ar mer / become a f ar mer  Rache l F ole y 

W in t he Gr and Nat ional P at r ick  Hick e y  

R eplace Z ay n in O ne D ir ect ion D e clan L one r gan

Cur e ebola 

Z oe  Mulligan

St ar  in Made in Chelsea Sophie  McMahon

R eplace  Jer emy  Clar k son on T op Gear  L uk e  Gr e ne 

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Junior Cert Art

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4th Form

 F a v o u r i t e  fi l m  o f  t h e  y

 e a r 

 T h e  I m i t a t i on  G a m

 e

 F a v o u r i t e  T V s h o w

 

 G a m e  o f  T hr on es

 F a v o u r i t e  m us i c  a

 r t is t 

 T h e  K  o o k s

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Most  lik ely  t o… 

Become t he ne x t  Car a D elev ingne L ucinda Mar de n W ast e ne y s

T ak eov er  3 Ir eland D anie l O w e ns

Mar r y  a f ar mer / become a f ar mer  D av id T hor pe 

W in t he Gr and Nat ional Emma Hannon

R eplace Z ay n in O ne D ir ect ion Nacho Sanche z -C apuchino P olanco

Cur e ebola L e ona Q uigle y 

St ar  in Made in Chelsea Emma W alsh

R eplace  Jer emy  Clar k son on T op Gear  Emma Sw if t 

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MAKE A SOUND

Students raise over  €2000 for Charities:‘Barnardos’ and ‘Turn the Tide on Suicide’

 A charity concert organised by Newtown School’s Transition Year students and teachers withsupport from their partners ‘The EnterPrize’, acommunity interest company, and The Theatre Royal hasraised a signicant amount of money for twocharities. The aim of the ‘Make a Sound’ concert was tonot only raise funds, but to show that every young personhas talent. “We wanted to raise awareness aboutsupports available to people in distress and promotepositive mental health and children’s rights in a way that

 would be popular with young people,” according toRobert Pim, one of the students involved. A cheque was presented to Barnardos Family SupportProject in Ballybeg for €1,174.93 on Friday 16th January. Una Conroy, project leader in Ballybeg said she was overwhelmed by the generosity of these teenagersand impressed that they were so passionate about helpingother young people. Barnardos will use the funds toprovide much needed support for families in WaterfordCity. Sara Kelly from the 3Ts, ‘Turn the Tide onSuicide’, also collected a cheque for €1,174.93. “3Ts aredelighted to receive funds from this venture. The money

raised will be used to prevent deaths by suicide throughresearch, education and support.” The event featured talented young people from fourdifferent schools in Waterford who performedalongside comedian ‘MC Fabu D’, Jordan O’Keefe(Britain’s Got Talent nalist), our very own Waterfordband, ‘In the Willows’ and the headline act ‘FreshRé’. Newtown School Transition Year students and staffare delighted to be able to work in support of charities

that help young people every day.

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Hope Trip

Since September of 2014, nine

Newtown students have been

raising €2,300 each for the HopeFoundation; a charity that helpsstreet and slum children in

Kolkata, India. Through furtherfundraising, all students raisedenough money to go and visitthe many projects and homes in

Kolkata. On March 26th, Lily RoseFitzmaurice, Niamh Robertson,Eimear Kelly, Leona Quigley, Aoife Treacy, Jack Lailheugue, Sam

Newcomb, George Maclean, JayneFitzmaurice and Paul Harteryheaded up to Dublin airport andmet up with 58 other studentsand team leaders to take the trip

to Kolkata. There we learned andsaw the happiness and acceptance

of people in the hardships that

they live in in their everyday lives.

From the girls’ home to the crisisintervention centre every person we saw had a smile on their face

and wanted to play and interact with us. It was a life altering tripand with a charity that I will alwayssupport. I encourage anyone with

the opportunity to help the HopeFoundation to do so. We would alllike to thank everyone that helped with our fundraising and to please

look at the hopefoundation website and the poem written and performed by LilyRose on the Hope FoundationFacebook page.

 Aoife Treacy

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Junk Kouture

 Junk Kouture is a national competition for secondlevel students which challenges teenagers to createhigh-end wearable fashion from everyday junk that would normally nd its way into the bin. On Fridaythe 13th of March 2015, the southern regionalnal of Junk Kouture took place in the Universityof Limerick Concert Hall. Over 950 entries weresubmitted this year nationwide and only 80 entries were selected for each of the four regions, North,South, East and West. Two costumes from Newtown

School were selected to participate in the southernregionals.

 These included ‘Black Star’ by Maria Barahona andMaya Brennan, an elegant black dress made entirelyfrom lm tape, and Isabel Auld, Elishka Lane Barnesand Lucinda Marden Wasteneys produced a shininggolden ensemble entitled ‘Power to the Girl’. Thetwo models took to the catwalk to battle it out in a90 second performance to showcase their outt andtheir performance skills. At the end of the night the80 contestants were whittled down to a nal 18 who

progress to the National Finals in the 3 Arena onthe 24th of April. ‘Power to the Girl’ who advancedto the nal with their outt made from all thingsdangerous – golden bullet shells, nails, pins and toysoldiers that was forged together by a hot glue gun

and papier-mâché in the dark depths of the artclassroom. “The concept behind our outt is tonever underestimate the power of a woman, we allhave the right to be whatever we want to be andthat we will ght for equal rights. We are so proudto have gotten through after all our hard work, andElishka is overjoyed to be able to perform in the 3 Arena”, says one of the dress designers Isabel Auld.

 The national nal then took place on April 24th.Unfortunately the performance had to be cut downfrom 60s seconds to 90, which added extra pressureto deliver during the routine. The day was hecticafter leaving school at 9:30 a.m. as we wererequired to be there for after 11. That afternoon thelong hours backstage consisted of touching up thecostumes, completing the hair and make-up, anddoing the dress rehearsal. “The level of support wereceived was great, and it really contributed to our

condence on the night. It was amazing to see suchenthusiasm from our school”, says Lucinda.“The build up to Elishka’s performance was anextremely nerve-wracking one, but as expected, shecompleted the routine perfectly, and the crowd lovedit”, she continues.

Unfortunately ‘Power to the Girl’ was not awardedany prizes on the night, but to have made it to theNational Final was an achievement in itself. “Theexperience of getting to perform in the 3 Arena wasone I’ll never forget and I am so grateful to have

been part of it with Lucinda & Isabel. The girls wantto say a massive thank you to Mrs Hehir, who madeall this possible. “Her hard work and dedication wassecond to none, and without her we would not havegone as far as we did”, Isabel says.

Isabel Auld, Lucinda Marden Wasteneys and

Elishka Lane Barnes

“we all have the right to be whatever we want to be”

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Film WorkshopOn the week of the 2nd to the6th of February, the lm workshop took place. The YoungIrish Filmmakers came to our

school and ran the course. Onthe rst day we were in the libraryand met them and did somedrama warm up exercises such asgames and improv. We then hadto come up with ideas/stories forthe short lms we were going tobe shooting for the next few days. The three different groups cameup with the three ideas, The ‘PinkLady’, ‘Stolen Money’ and ‘At Your Service’. We then organised

 who had which jobs - director,assistant director, actors, camera,boom operator, clapper etc. Thegroups were lead by Stu, Cory orGarry and the second day wasspent organising our locationsand costume. We got straight inand started lming. We spent three intense dayslming and on the second lastday we lmed another short lm

made of ten shots for#littlethings about bullying. Thenon the last day we edited the lmsand the bloopers and watched

them all. It was a great experiencealtogether. The whole week was so fun andit was really interesting to useproper gear and to treateverything as if it was a real lmset. It was all very professionalbut enjoyable at the same time. Ilearned a lot of skills and it wasgreat to work as a team and itmade us as a year get closer. It was nice to do a creative group

project and I would denitelyrecommend it. It was my favourite workshop that we did in TY.

Elishka Lane Barnes

GLO HEALTH MILECHALLENGE

On Tuesday the 28th of April, theGloHealth mile challenge was run inconjunction with the Clan 1500m. I wasassigned the task of organising the event byMr Butler. The purpose of the GloHealthSchool Mile Challenge is to promoterunning as a fun tness activity in postprimary schools. The challenge allows students theopportunity to take the rst steps towardstness with the emphasis on participation; whether it be walking, jogging or running.For motivation, and as a reward, students were awarded a coloured band on how wellthey did. It was a great success apart fromthe horrible weather that kept some people

at bay!

Isabel Auld

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ARTIFICE 2015

 After a month of hard work my stencils

 were nally done and painted. On Friday

 we all went to the opening day, everybody

 was really excited as it was a great

opportunity to participate in a real

exhibition. The standard of the exhibition

pieces was incredible.

 All the different colours, paintings, movies

and sculptures were amazing. It was a great

experience and I hope to do this again as

soon as possible. Thanks to Ms Hehir for

organising our participation in the

exhibition and for all of her help in advance

of the exhibition.

 Jack Lailheugue

 A fantastic night was had by our Transition

 Year Students who attended the ofcial

opening of their exhibition in Lismore

Castle as part of ‘Artice 2015’. The

students did both themselves and

Newtown School proud on the night and it

 was wonderful for the students to stand by

their own work, displayed in such afabulous gallery space.

 With over 300 people in attendance on theopening night, Newtown School beat off

 very stiff competition and scooped the top

prize on offer, the ‘Artice Purchase Prize

2015’. A very innovative piece of

Filmmaking set in the ‘60s,

‘The Morning of Aggy Wagowski’ by

Elishka Lane Barnes, Isabel Auld and

Lucinda Marden Wasteneys.

It was a great experience for all the stu-

dents and they were delighted to meet Lord

Burlington who stepped in with them for

photos on the night and chatted with thestudents about their work.

Sinead Hehir

 This year, Newtown School were invited

to participate in a real exhibition as part of

‘Artice 2015’ in Lismore Castle, Co.

 Waterford. I decided to take part in it as I

am highly interested in this domain. The

theme was the ‘60s Sensations’, which is a

really good theme to work with.

I decided to make my piece with spray paint

as this is one of my favourite things to

 work with. We had six weeks to create our

piece. I decided to make twelve small

canvases, each a portrait of celebrities from

the ‘60s, and one big canvas in the middle

 with my portrait. I placed the smaller

canvases around the larger one, the idea

 was that the background of each of the

small canvases would have a different

colour as there are twelve colours in the

colour wheel.

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TY Photography Module

 

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Outdoor Pursuits

For the week of the 8th-12th of September, all of

 Transition Year went out to Dunmore East and Tramoreto take part in Outdoor Pursuits week to celebrate our Junior Cert results. Our year was split in half foractivities during the week, so my group spent the rsttwo days kayaking in Dunmore East, whereas the othergroup spent those days surng in Tramore. There welearned new kayaking skills and explored somedifferent coves while around the coast trying not tocapsize ourselves. The second day we all took ourkayaking test to become ofcial level 2 kayakers!On the third day we received our long awaited JuniorCert. results. When we arrived back to Dunmore

 Adventure Centre they spilt us in two, sent half off toget kitted out in wetsuits and go on the Wibit course andthe other half were left on land to do a team building workshop. After that was rock climbing and then weswapped. The Wibit was like an amazing blow-up,oating playground and was the highlight of the week.I was gutted when we had to go back to shore.

Day four it was our turn to go surng. We were briey

spoken to about lifesaving and were then given a shortand basic demonstration on how to stand up on theboard/paddle. We practised it a few times and then werestraight into the sea! The instructors were really helpful with teaching you to stand up and what not.On the nal day to our surprise we went on a scavengerhunt. At rst we thought it would be a small trek alongthe beach looking for clues but actually we were sent ona full scale race all around Tramore! It brought you fullcircle around Tramore and took us about an hour ofnonstop jogging! After everyone had returned and wehad all eaten, it was back into the water for the afternoon.

Overall the week was amazing and was a great start to TY! I would recommend it to all future students as it’sone to remember!

Isabel Auld

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From the 11th to the 15th of May all of TY got to nish the year with a bang with our outdoor pursuits trip to KillaryHarbour. This week had been long awaited since the start of the year, and exceeded our expectations by far. After a 5 hour busjourney we nally arrived to the serene harbour and grabbed a quick lunch. Next up, we were assigned our rooms and groupsfor the week. We were staying in the youth hostel which was connected to the Adventure Centre and near all the activities.

 We were divided into the 5 groups we would be in for the whole week. Throughout the week everyone did the same activitiesbut each group did them on different days to prevent overlapping. So here is what my group got up to on each day.

MONDAY - After arriving to the centre atMonday lunchtime we headed out into thehills to complete the “KillaryChallenge”. The whole aim was to improveour teamwork as we were given a map andhad to navigate around the surroundinghills to nd different places that held achallenge for us to solve. It was a mixture

of puzzles/brain teasers and physicalchallenges where we really did have to worktogether. For our group it was a great startto the week as we got to discover eachother’s strengths.

 TUESDAY - We started off themorning with paintballing which we wereso pumped for as many of us hadn’t evertried it. After getting kitted out in chestprotectors, camouage overalls and whatcan only be described as a Darth Vaderhelmet, we set off into the forest with ourinstructors to check out the course.

It was just a forest on the side of a hill withfences and walls to hide behind and a forton top of the hill. After dividing ourselvesup into two teams we played the rst gameof capture the ag. We all knew it wouldhurt when you got hit, but we really weren’tprepared for the pain. I warn people toprotect their hands as it’s the worst placeto get shot. Even though our group wasall girls the instructors said they were verysurprised at how aggressive we were whenplaying. The morning consisted of manychallenges/games against each other.

 That afternoon we were taken zip-lining

owed by archery. The zip-line was somuch better than expected as you were agood 20 feet. off the ground ying throughthe trees. The archery wasn’t as extremebut we got to test our skills by shooting atzombie gures amongst other creatures.

 WEDNESDAY - The morningactivities were all water based. We startedoff by jumping into the freezing Atlanticsea off a diving board. We were then takento the base of a gorge, which we thenspent 30minutes climbing upstream againstthe water current. The gorge was

beautiful but be prepared; your feet turnto ice! Next up we went back to the water’sedge to kayak around for half an hour. We

 were well prepared for this from our startof the year outdoor pursuits week.

 After lunch we headed over to the lasercombat area for a few hours of wearingcamouage face paint, and hiding out inthe forest shooting each other.

 THURSDAY - This morning was the longawaited turf challenge we had all heard somuch about. We had the option of wearingour own old clothes or a wetsuit provided.

 After getting kitted out we started thecourse by crawling through tunnels andending up in a pool of muddy water. Here

 we waded up to our waists in pure peatbogs. It is one of the mostexhausting things battling through suchdeep mud. The next hour and a half wasspent running from bog to bog and in mycase cannonballing into the liquid mudpit. Everyone really enjoyed it and was anactivity we will never forget! After lunch wegot to go on the long awaited giant swing,

 which was two seats connected to ropes

hanging off the abseiling tower which werepulled back and then released afterclimbing high into the air. After we eachgot a go, we went over to the high ropes

 which I found scary. We got the joy ofclimbing a telephone pole in pairs to thenstand on a 2feet squared platform balanc-ing and trying not to fall. From here theythen expected us to do a leap of faith ontoa trapeze bar which did not go well in mycase. Even though it was one of thescariest things I’ve done, I’m truly glad I

 went ahead and did it even though it lookedterrifying from the start.

FRIDAY- Our nal morning was spentrock climbing and abseiling which wasa nice calm activity before we left. Eventhough the actual rock wall was verydifcult we all had fun despite not beingable to conquer it. Not all of us opted forthe abseiling as it was a horrible wetmorning, but from what I’ve heard it was

 well worth getting wet. The week was by far the best week of TYand really was so much more than what wehoped for. Killary is a must for all future

 TY’s as it really was a great way to end the

year and say goodbye to all our friends that would be leaving the school.

Isabel Auld

Killary

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 What better way to learn about our Viking heritage than become a Viking!

 The TY students of Newtown School Waterford embarked on ajourney to learn about Vikings culture recently. With the help ofFadó, a Waterford based historical re-enactment group, studentsbrought history to life. In December six Transition Formapprentices trained with the staff of Fadó in the Viking village atthe Winterval festival. Viking crafts such as wood carving,

 woodturning, pottery and Viking culture sparked the interest of

these teenagers to learn more.Four months later, on the 13th of April, thirteen TY studentsbegan their week training as Vikings. The culmination of the week

 would see them transform a part of their campus into a Vikingsettlement and host students from Scoil Lorcain and the QuakerNational School on an informative educational tour.

 Their week began with a trip to Reginald’s Tower and the VikingLongboat in Waterford. The extensive range of Viking artefactson view was impressive. The afternoon introduced Viking craftsof Finger Weaving with Clare Horgan and Willow Weaving withCathy Hayden. Exploring Viking inspired tourist attractions ledstudents to Dublinia, as well as the National History Museum and

 Viking Splash Tour, all popular attractions in Dublin which could

possibly be replicated in Waterford.Students participated in an acting and tour-guiding course withactor, Michael Power, where they practiced skills of impartingknowledge of Viking history. A mock archaeological dig with OrlaScully helped students to understand how so much informationabout the Vikings survives today to inspire their studies.

 A trip to Annestown beach to meet Marie Power, aka “the seagardener”, ensured students understood the importance of the

fruits of the sea in the local economy and Viking survival. Seaweedcollected on the shore formed part of the culinary fayre for thenext day. Fire lighting and medieval carpentry skills were polishedin the afternoon, with some relaxation techniques and a barbequeon the side.

 The Viking settlement was set up on Thursday and by Fridaystudents nearly knew more about the Vikings than the Vikings

themselves! Everyone was ready for action. TY Viking re-enactorstransformed into fully costumed guides for primary school groups

 with the backup of Fadó staff to shadow them in the settlement. The tour guides went over the tour one nal time before greet-ing the rst wave of children from Scoil Lorcain who would belearning about Viking crafts, culture and history from students justa few years older than themselves. They were shown Viking weap-ons, carpentry, weaving and food. They were told about Vikingreligious beliefs, cultures and even practiced code breaking literacyskills to spell their names in the runic Viking alphabet usingspecially developed code breakers.

 The Transition Year students who participated in this event notonly loved the chance to gain a greater appreciation of history,

crafts and our own heritage but were privileged to work witha potential future generation of historians, archaeologists andtraders in the Waterford economic landscape. Daniel Owens, TYstudent, said, “It would be lovely to expand this project for nextyear so that TY students could really celebrate Waterford’s Vikingheritage.”

Viking Week

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5 t h  Fo r m

Favourite film of the year50 Shades of Grey 

Favourite TV showGame of Thrones

Favourite music artist Years & Years

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Most  lik ely  t o… 

Become t he ne x t  Car a Delev ingne Hannah P im

T ak eov er  3 Ir eland Ciar an Finnegan

Mar r y  a f ar mer / become a f ar mer  Robin D oy le 

W in t he Gr and Nat ional Cor y  Cook e

R eplace Z ay n in One Dir ect ion Robbie Har v ey / Est ime Bongu

Cur e ebola Sholt o O ’Br ien

St ar  in Made in Chelsea Cat hy  T eev an

R eplace  Jer emy  Clar k son on T op Gear   A ar on V ogelaar 

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The ripped knee jeandefinitely made a comeback 

The tartan scarf was amust have during the

 winter months

The double french braid was very popular this year

 Air Force 1’s

 We saw lots of girlsthis year working extralong mermaid hair

The Nike Roche wasseen a lot this year

Style a summery dress with a pair of roches fora relaxed look 

Keeping it snug with apuffa jacket

Keeping it classy Keep warm in winter with chunkyTimberlands

 Another winter essential A classic denim jacketnever goes out of style

Customised Nike Airmax 

Fashion Page

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Problem Page

The following puzzles are arranged roughly in order of difficulty.

1. Cross out nine letters in a way such that the remaining letters spell a single word:

  N A I S N I E N L G E L T E T W E O R R S D

2. Podge and Rodge race each other in the 100m. Podge wins by 10m so they race again butthis time Podge starts 10m behind the start line. Assuming they both run at the same constantspeed as before, who wins?

3. During collect, Mr Lemon asks everyone to shake hands with each other. Each person canshake as many people’s hands as they want. Prove that the number of people who shakenhands an odd number of times is even.

4. Podge and Rodge are having a chat. Podge asks Rodge how old his three kids are. Rodgesays that the product of their ages is 36. Podge tells Rodge that he needs more information.Rodge says that the sum of their ages is Podge’s favourite number. Podge thinks for a while

and then tells him again that he doesn’t have enough information. Rodge then says that theoldest likes cats. How old are Rodge’s kids?

5. Podge isn’t a very good bank teller. When Rodge asks him to cash a check he accidentallyswaps the amount of euros for the amount of cents and vice versa. After buying a 5c newspaper, Rodge finds he is left with exactly twice as much as his original check before Podgemade a mess of it. What was the value of the original check?

6. A cylindrical hole 6 inches long is drilled straight through the centre of a solid wooden

sphere. What is the remaining volume of the sphere?

7. Podge and Rodge own the finest chickens in Munster. One day they take a flock of their bestchickens and sell them each at the price of the amount of chickens they originally bought.They split the money they make in the following way; Podge takes 10, Rodge takes 10,Podge takes another 10 and so on until Rodge, whose turn it is, finds less than 10 left. Hetakes what’s left and to make the split even, Podge gives Rodge his penknife. What is thevalue of the penknife?

  Daniel Morris

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6th Form

Favourite film of the yearThe Theory of Everything Favourite TV showRos Na Rún

Favourite music artistHudson Taylor 

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Most likely to…

Become the next Cara Delevingne Jonathan Wieneke

Takeover 3 IrelandDarren Singh-Hennessy

 Win the Grand NationalMikhail Arkhangelsky 

Replace Zayn in One DirectionSara Balaban

Cure ebolaStephanie Ebert 

Star in Made in ChelseaNikki Boyd

Replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top GearChristian Sumstad

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6th Form Photos

Stephanie Ebert, Sara Balaban Marlene Roche, Dylan De La Haye Sean Whelan

Sarah Anne Bakker, Rosie Brown, Emer Foley,Bobbi Doorley 

Lucy Latta, Grace Allen, Kate Cafferkey 

Peter Joyce, Stuart Slevin, Lukas Dwan, Mikhail Arkhangelsky  Peter Murphy, Hugh McEvoy,Conor Buckley 

Laura McDaid, Triona Harvey, Izzy Graham Katie Sweeney, Sophie Crotty,Ciara Doody 

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Keith Maher, Darren Singh-Hennessy   Julius McBride,Christian Sumstad

 Jonathan Wieneke,Philipp Mueller-Schonau, Devon Hartel

Ines Montila, Aine Walsh

Eve Heffernan, Nikki Boyd, Rowan Keane

 Jan Kutay, Benedikt Scholz

Claudia Kelly, Rebecca Auld Chris Dowling, Atlanta Doherty-Brophy 

Evan Jacob Daniel O’Driscoll

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Leaving Cert Art

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Our Community of Social

InnovationNewtown has enjoyed its third year as aCommunity of Social Innovation. Now one ofthirty-three such communities in Ireland, the teamreceived their award at the ‘Young Social Innovator Awards and Showcase’ event in May after wowingthe judges with their innovative and creativeresponse to their assigned category; ‘Justice,Democracy and Human Rights’. We began by getting involved in the ‘Make A Sound’charity concert, in association with ‘The EnterPrize’group. This event showcased local and nationaltalent as well as international artists. ‘The Theatre

Royal’ was packed to capacity on November 13th tosupport our chosen charities and to enjoy themusical talents of all involved. The money raised was divided between ‘Barnardo’s Family SupportProject, Ballybeg, Waterford and ‘The 3 Ts’ (Turnthe Tide on Suicide). A total of €2,348 was raised. These charities were chosen because they protectand promote human rights. We would like to thankall the staff involved for their time, commitmentand help in making this event the success that it was.Special thanks to Ms Keogh, Mrs Maher and MrsKeappock.

December was a busy month for us; it began withour participation in the ‘Focus Ireland Sleep Out’ toraise awareness of homelessness. The sleep out tookplace in Christchurch Cathedral in Waterford. The night was cold but our spirits remained high. We have become more aware of the reality of thisever increasing social issue. We no longer take forgranted the comfort, security and privacy that weenjoy in our homes. The Newtown participantsraised €600 in support of the sleep out and TYstudents raised a further €1,100 from bucket

collections on the same day. Thanks toMr O’Connor, Brigette and our TY friends forjoining us for the sleep out.

 The sleep out was followed by what has become anannual COSI event, our ‘Christmas ShoeboxCollection – Suitable for The Older Person’. This year, due to the generosity of our schoolcommunity and the people of Waterford, we wereable to expand this project. Residents in three localhospitals enjoyed unwrapping their gifts to celebrateChristmas. We spent a memorable day with theresidents in St. Patrick’s Hospital, opening their gifts,chatting and listening to stories. Our thanks toMs Coady for all of her help.

Our ‘Human Rights and Dignity Day’ was a real

eye-opener to the violation of human rights inPalestine. We were joined by Anrai Carroll and watched the documentary that he made during histime in Palestine called ‘Small Hands in Handcuffs’.Everyone in TY learned so much from this. We were very fortunate to hear Tomi Reichental,survivor of the Holocaust, speak about his time in a Jewish Concentration Camp and subsequentliberation. It was an amazing opportunity to hear hislife story, it was both upsetting and uplifting. It wasan honour to attend this event in WIT and we mustthank Ms Keogh and Ms Coady for organising this

and accompanying us on the day. We are currentlyorganising to participate in ‘The Crocus Project’ with The Holocaust Education Trust’. Mr Jones haskindly offered to plant the crocuses with thehorticulture group in spring. We look forward toseeing them in bloom.

 The ‘Smashing Times’ Performance and ‘SamaritansStudent Listener Programme’ was available to all TYstudents. ‘Smashing Times Theatre’ havecollaborated with ‘The Samaritans’ in forming amonologue describing how the death of a friend due

to suicide affects those grieving the loss. ‘TheSamaritans’ also taught us all how to listen to, andhelp, students in distress. Support is available.

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 The COSI Team: NiamhRobertson, Eoin O’Donnell, EimearKelly, George Maclean, EmmaHannon, Robert Pim,Leona

Quigley, Matilda Hedewig, MariaBarahona and

 This year saw Newtown beingawarded the “We Innovate” ag and wall plaque. (  Top Bottom Picture:

 The plaque being received.) Thisis a huge honour and it is as a resultof the commitment and work of allthree teams that have made ourCommunity of Social Innovation what it is.

Pictured is Marlene Roche,

Sixth Form, with Mayor Lola

O’Sullivan.

NEWTOWN REVIEW 2014/15

 To encourage, even more, kindnessthroughout our school community weparticipated in Electric Ireland’s‘Powering Kindness Week’. €130,000 was to be divided between three charities;‘Childline’, ‘The Marie Keating Foundation’and ‘The Irish Heart Foundation’.

 We encouraged everyone to commit an actof kindness, choose a charity and tell us. We logged 172 acts of kindness, whichmeant 172 donations were made on ourbehalf. Thanks to everyone that took part. The right to education is something that weoften take for granted. Everyone in Irelandhas the right to education; we were madeaware by the literacy developmentorganisation called SUAS that somechildren attending school may need extrasupport. Thirteen TY students, including

members of our team, took part in thetraining and the subsequent six week pairedreading programme. We worked withprimary school students in two localschools, St. Saviour’s, Ballybeg and ScoilLorcain, St. John’s Park. This was a greatprogramme to be involved with, we reallyenjoyed it and we loved joining thestudents, and their parents, when thereceived their certicates. We wouldencourage next year’s TY students to getinvolved in this if they get the opportunity.

 We ended our year with our ‘MockReferendum’. We chose three rights and asked students to vote for the one that they thought was themost important.

‘The ‘Right to Education’ received the most votes. At the showcase in May, we held a vote on the topic of marriage equality andstudents from around the country tookpart. The outcome was almost a unanimous‘YES’ to marriage equality for all. The ‘Young Social Innovator Awards and

Showcase’ was our nal event of the year. We were invited to showcase our year’s work and to present, on stage, to a panelof judges. Although it was nerve-wracking,it was also great fun. We represented ourcounty in the Flags Ceremony and havereceived an award for our ‘Commitment toSocial Innovation’.

 We enjoyed a concert from ‘The OriginalRude Boys’ (we think the teachers enjoyedit more) and the coffee afterwards! It was a

brilliant end to a brilliant year for theNewtown COSI Team.

 We would like to thank all of ourteachers, the COSI volunteers andeveryone at Newtown for all of their helpalong the way. Many, many thanks to MsCoady and Ms Keogh for everything, theyare committed to social innovation and toorganising events and opportunities for usall. We would encourage everyone to signup to be part of this team when they put

up the ‘sign up’ sheet in September.

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Music Report

2014-2015

 We began the year by welcoming the newmusicians in First Form and those joining us inother years into the music department. This year we also welcomed three new teachers; John Kennedy, conductor of Chamber Choir,Peter Taylor, conductor of the Orchestra andBrass tutor, and Aimee Crokee, tutor of clarinetand saxophone.September is always a busy time with studentssigning up for individual instrumental lessonsand Girls’ Choir, Chamber Choir and Orchestrarehearsals getting underway. In late September webrought a group of piano students to the NewRoss Piano Festival. They attended a perfor-mance workshop with Joseph Moog, a youngpianist from Germany. This event is alwaysinsightful and inspiring for the students.October to Christmas is always a hive of activityas we prepare for the Christmas Concert. Theconcert is always a highlight for us and this year was no exception with students performing inmany genres from classical to traditional to rock. Junior Choir opened the concert with ‘Wake meup’ by Avicii, followed by ‘Let it Snow’, soloist was Aaron Aylward. Girls’ Choir sang ‘Thankyou for the Music’ by ABBA, ‘The Shoop ShoopSong’, soloist was Georgina McNamara andnished their programme with ‘ChestnutsRoasting on an Open Fire’. The Chamber Choirsang ‘Dindirin’ and ‘Cockles and Mussels’. This year in December the Girls’ Choir andsoloists Hugh McEvoy (piano) and JordanLudusan (violin) performed at a concert in ChristChurch Cathedral which was a fundraiser for‘Focus Ireland’. The ‘High Hopes’ Choir which

featured in a T.V. series also performed at thisconcert. The students gave excellentperformances.Spring term brings practical exams forLeaving Cert and Junior Cert students. We alsoheld a series of March lunchtime concerts forany students who wanted to take the opportunityto perform. These concerts were, once again, ahuge success with thirty students performing andmany friends coming to support. This is just oursecond year holding these concerts but I thinkthat they’re here to stay!

 The Leaving and Junior Cert practical examinersarrived in April, a stressful time for exam

students. All candidates did themselves justice while the examiners enjoyed listening to a wide variety of music played on a wide variety ofinstruments!On a lighter note, after the practicals were over we brought over forty students to the Bord GáisEnergy Theatre in Dublin to see ‘Jersey Boys’. The show was enjoyed by all and the students were a pleasure to take on a trip.Nearing the end of our year saw our choirs

preparing for the AIMS Choral Festival in NewRoss on May 22nd. Both choirs sounded lovelyand gave excellent performances. We are delighted for our chamber choir on beingawarded ‘Highly Commended’. A goodbye to our Sixth Form students who havesupported the choirs and orchestra throughouttheir six years in Newtown. We wish them wellin their future endeavours. Finally, I would like tocongratulate Daniel Morris, Fifth Form, on winning this years’ ‘Eric de Courcy’ scholarship.He is truly a worthy recipient.

Music Department

“The concert is always a highlightfor us and this year was noexception”

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Jersey BoysFor the 16th of April the music

department organized a trip to themusical “Jersey Boys”. On our way

to Dublin we stopped inDundrum shopping-centre to dosome shopping and to get food(delicious pizza).

 We arrived at the Bord Gáis Theatre and after sorting out ourtickets we entered the rapidlylling building. Seated in the upper

circle we had a perfect view. The musical itself was amazing!

It was the story of four youngmen, their connection in the band

and the ups and downs of themusic business, performed in themost entertaining way. Music,

 vocals and acting were excellent. Ithink everybody enjoyed the show. We would like to thank all staffinvolved for a wonderful time!

 Vicki Ebert

Winterval

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1st Form ChoirDuring fth class every Friday Ms O’Connortakes all us rst years for choir practice. We do lots of exercises and songs to helpimprove our singing as a choir. The main event we practiced for was the Christmas Concert which was a lot of fun. We sang two songs,‘Wake Me Up’ by Avicii and ‘Let It Snow’, and Aaron Aylward even sang a solo in ‘Let It Snow’ which was brilliant! For the rest of the year wekept practicing and learning. 1st Year Choir was a great way to improve our musical abilityand team work and I would recommend it tonext year’s 1st years. We would like to thank MsO’Connor for conducting us for this year.

Finn Vogelaar

Chamber Choir This year our conductor Fintan Scanlonunfortunately had to leave his job as conductorof the chamber choir but he left us in the verycapable hands of his friend and fellowchorister John Kennedy. Having started fromfresh halfway through the winter term didn’tleave us with much time to prepare but wemanaged to have two songs ready in time forNewtown’s Christmas Concert; a piece called‘Dindirin’ and the classic ‘Cockles and Mussels’. After Christmas we continued to practice andlearned a few more songs, some of which wepolished up and sang at a choral competitionin New Ross. Those were ‘Vuelie’ from Frozenand a choral arrangement of ‘Payphone’ byMaroon 5. The competition was a great chanceto get some performance experience and we were highly commended by the adjudicators. We would like to thank John for a great rstyear as conductor and Ms Keappock foraccompanying us at the competition.

Daniel Morris

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Clan Points 2015

Total

TennisAthletics

SwimmingGala

1500 Cross Country

1st2nd

3rd4th

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Sport Winners

2014

 

Presentation of Awards: Lorna KenningtonContribution to Girl’s Hockey: Sarah Murray,

George Fitzgerald, Memorial Shield: Izzy AuldOverall Clan Competition: Red

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2015 

Presentation of Awards: Mr Edward DennistonContribution to Girl’s Hockey: Lucy Latta

George Fitzgerald Memorial Shield: Hilary BaldingOverall Clan Competition: Green

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First Form Rugby We started off the year with a blitz in Clonmel.It was a great learning experience for all of us.

 We came away with two draws; a win and a loss.Our rst match was against Villiers. The game startedoff with the ball landing in the hands of Villiers’biggest player. He scored after everyone on our team

being unable to tackle him. We picked up our gameand nished the game 28-28. For our nal match we wanted to end on a high. We were up against Abbey.In the rst half we played appallingly with theopposition scoring multiple tries against us.

During half time we decided we wouldn’t let them walk over us like that and win the game.In the second half we played fantastically ending up

beating them.

Later on in the year we played an away matchagainst Middleton. It was a few of our

players’ rst game of the year and we weremissing some so we weren’t expecting to win it.

In the rst half they scored lots of tries againstus but in the second half we had betterdefensive lines and they didn’t score as manytries against us with the match ending 69-0.I would like to thank our Mr Ronan and Sarah

for their help training us and teaching players who had never played before.

 William Wallis

Harry Allen, Lucca Allen, Patrick Cooke, Isaac Johnson, Sam Johnson, Dmitry Kodhsaspirov,Sam Kingston, Ben McInerney, Daniel Prager, Alfred Sirbu, Joe Slattery, Finn Vogelaar, William Wallis, Finn Brady, Thomas Drayton, David Gahan, Will Jolly, Tom Lehane,Ethan McInerney, Gearóid Morgan-O’Brien, Robert McKenzie-Brown, Aedan Rogers,Stefan Sumstad, Miguel Halcon Rufino

Junior Rugbymagic on the touch line from Fionn

O’Loughlin, we managed to scrape adraw from a tough game under tougherconditions.Our nal game of the season was anaway game against Kilkenny College.Unfortunately, we were out classed andlost the game 17-7. We would like to express our thanks toMr Jones and Eoin O’Connor for goodtraining throughout a good season.

Fionn O’Loughlin

 We started our season with afriendly game against Cahir,coming off the bus with four weeks of preseason training behindus we were eager to get stuck in.Before we knew it, it was gametime. The game started off withgreat intensity, with an early try

from Eoin O’Driscoll. After a shortinjury break we picked up two quicktries from Fionn O’Loughlin. Thegame nished 19-5 with Ross Joycescooping Man of the Match.Our next match was at home. Waterpark came to our house toplay on our carpet. Due to somedefensive errors, Waterpark ran intwo tries in quick succession. Twotries down at half-time we knew we needed to work hard to saveour chances. Straight from thekick off, Josh Allen scored a try. Thanks to some good play fromthe pack, Eoin O’Driscoll scored inthe corner. The Waterpark backline

 were too much for us on the day,and we lost 28-14. Great centrepartnership from Liam Murrayand Luke Greene.Next challenge; Villiers at home. We played our greatest game ofrugby of the year in this match. A quick ball at the breakdown

from Seoirse Joyce lead to a tryfrom Fionn O’Loughlin. Ourcompetitive opponents kept thegame close but due to their lackof tness and our hard work atthe breakdown we won the game18-5.Our next game was against NewRoss. The match was scorelessfor most of the rst half apartfrom two penalties from FionnO’Loughlin. The second half was a poor performance from us when they scored two convertedtries. When the game looked over we took our points off a penaltyfrom Rhys Jones. Due to some

Eoin O’Driscoll, Tom Owens,Ross Joyce, David Thorpe, James Gaffney, FionnO’Loughlin, JJ Rosenberg,Seoirse Joyce, Dylan Crews,Liam Murray, Josh Allen, James Treacy, Arthaud Courage,George Maclean, Rhys Jones,Cian Mooney, Luke Grene, Alvaro Fernandez

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Senior Rugby This year’s senior rugby teamsuffered a mixed batch of

results.Our rst match was homeagainst Kilkenny College

seconds. It was a goodtraining match and helpedus nd our feet for things tocome. We put in a great

performance and won by aconverted try, 25-18.Our second match was againstour local rivals, Waterpark. At

half time it was all square at 12

all. After a great team talk fromour coaches during  the break, we managed to pull togetherand win the match 26-12.

Next up we were away to a verystrong, physical side from

Midleton College. Aftersuffering from injured and sickplayers, we  were overpowered

and lost the game 27-0.Our fourth match was hometo Enniscorthy CBS, they werebig, very big. This is where our

ability was really put to the test.Our training and tness reallyshined through in this matchand we managed to out skill

them and keep going to the

bitter end. We came away witha victory, 24-23. We travelled away to KilkennyCollege for our next match,

to have a chance of pittingourselves against their rsts.

 We got off to a very poor startand they managed to run inseven easy tries in the rst half. After having a team talk with

our coach at half time we gotour heads sorted and managedto keep them out for the entiresecond half and score a few ofour own. The match ended

63-17 to Kilkenny College.Our nal match was againstanother local team, De La Salle.It was an exceptional

performance by the Newtown Team and we won easily with45 points to De La Salle’s 5. It

 was a great end to the seasonand hopefully a look at thingsto come for next year.I would like to thank EoinO’Conor and Mr Jones fortheir continuous coaching

throughout the year.

 Aaron Vogelaar

Robin Doyle, Tom Greene, John Jephson, Peter Joyce, Stuart Slevin, Sholto O’Brien, Aaron Vogelaar, Daniel O’Driscoll, Matthew Treacy, Cian Hogan, Daryl Hemmingway,Michael Dineen, Conor Kenny, Robbie Harvey, Sean Phelan, Stuart Bell, Devon Hartel,George Maclean, Philipp Mueller-Schonau, Cory Cooke

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Boy’s Hockey

Minor Boy’s Hockey On behalf of the squad, I would like to thank Mr Butler, Eamonn Walshe and Brendan du Preez for

all their hard work and support. The minor boys’ hockey team had a mixed season with mixed results. We had a total of four games; twoleague games, one cup game and one friendly. Our

rst minor game of the season was one of the twofriendlies against Kilkenny College and we drew 1-1at home.

 We kick-started our minor league soon after and

got off to a good start getting a home game againstMidleton College. We won 3-2 with goals providedby myself, Sacha O’Neill and Peter Yaciuk O’Connor. We then faced Villiers in our second league game of

the season and played a more experienced side thanlast year and unfortunately lost 3-1with the one goalscored by myself. Our league ended there but we thenset off on our minor cup campaign. We got off to a good start winning our quarter nal

3-0 away against Bandon with great goals from Finn

Brady, Gearóid Morgan O’Brien and Sacha O’Neill.Our next match, the semi-nal, was away against Ashton. We were not so fortunate in this match and

the result did not go our way. We lost 2-1 in a verytight match.

Ben Johnson

Minor Boy’s Hockey Team:

Ben Johnson, Thomas Drayton,Sacha O’Neill, David Gahan,Peter Yaciuk O’Connor, Ivan Allen,Ethan McInerney, Gearóid Morgan O’Brien,Aedan Rogers, Matthew Mosse, Finn Brady,Bernard Kelly, Sam Johnson, Isaac Johnson,Ben McInerney, Lucca Allen.

 Junior Boy’s Hockey 

On behalf of the squad I would like to thank MrButler, Eamonn Walshe and Brendan Du Preezfor a fantastic season and all their support. The Junior Boys hockey season was a

successful one as showed in our resultsthroughout the year. Lack of training was not aconcern for the squad this year as we hadtraining sessions 4 times per week with most ofthe squad attending 3 or 4 sessions. The junior

team consisted of the entire minor team bar twostarting third years, which meant all the minorsgot double the training and match time.It was not an easy start for our kick off league

game away to a strong Ashton side. We wereunfortunate to lose 5-2 with goals scored byEthan McInerney and Sacha O’Neill, but spirits,resolve and enthusiasm remained high.

Our next league game was against another

experienced Midleton side which we drew 1-1 athome, our only goal provided by GearóidMorgan O’Brien. Our last league game of theseason ended on a high as we beat Bandon 2-0

at home in Newtown with goals by Gearóid andSacha.

Our cup campaign commenced with a home

game against Villiers of Limerick with a great win – 3-0, goals provided by myself, scoring 2,and one from Peter Yaciuk O’Connor.Following our quarter nal win, we moved on to

the semi-nal against Midleton at home. This was the tightest hockey match I have everplayed with a 2-2 draw at full time, so extra time was required. In the last few seconds of thesecond half of extra time, Aeden Rogers slotted

one in the bottom corner to seal the win. We now had one week to prepare for our nalagainst Bandon in Midleton. The afternoonarrived, wet, cold and rainy but we were ready

for anything! Soon enough the game was under way and we got an early goal from a deection

hit in by myself for Gearóid to lop into the backof the net.

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 Junior Boy’s Hockey Team:

Ben Johnson, Sacha O’Neill, David Gahan, Peter Yaciuk O’Connor, Ivan Allen,Ethan McInerney, Gearóid Morgan O’Brien, Aedan Rogers, Matthew Mosse, Cian Mooney,Patrick Hickey, James Treacy, Bernard Kelly, Sam Johnson, Isaac Johnson

Senior Boy’s Hockey 

 The senior boys season started with theall-Ireland qualiers, where you play against the

best senior teams in the province.

Unfortunately we didn’t qualify but still hadsome good games against Midleton losing 3-1and by Villiers.

 

In the senior B leagues we won two gamesand lost two games. Our two wins against Ashton 6-0 and Villiers 4-1, our goals comingfrom Cian Hogan, Julius McBride and Sholto

O’Brien. Our two losses came against Bandon4-2 and Midleton 4-3. 

 The senior boys also enjoyed a cup run, which

ended at the nal, it started in at the quarternals beating Villiers B 5-1, this then followedto the seminals where we beat Bandon B6-0. However at the nal we lost 4-3, withour goals coming from Ciaran Finnegan and

Conor Kenny. It was a disappointing end tothe season but we look forward to the next.

Matthew Treacy

Aaron Vogelaar, Cory Cooke,

Robin Doyle, Daryl Hemmingway,Sean Phelan, Alex Round,Patrick Hickey, Matthew Treacy,Philipp Mueller-Schonau, Cian Hogan,Conor Kenny, Robbie Harvey,Sholto O’Brien, Ciaran Finnegan

 We were delighted to get points on the board

rst, but it was far from over. We had all thepossession in the second half but could not

produce anything from it and Bandon werelooking threatening in all areas. James Treacy,in goal, made some unbelievable game

changing saves when we needed them.

 The game nally came to an end and we were

delighted we were the Junior B cup winnersand I was presented with the cup and we all

received medals. We hope to do the same in the A cupnext year.

Ben Johnson

Serior Boy’s Hockey Team:

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66

 The junior girl’s hockey team enjoyed a great season this

year. There was great enthusiasm during training which was held on Tuesday and Friday evenings. This generatedgreat team work which allowed us to excel at ourmatches. We entered the B league for the third year in a

row, and were victorious in all our matches to bring us tothe nal. Unfortunately, on the day of the nal against astrong Kilkenny College side, injury and illness reducedus to a team of only eight players. We lost the match(our rst loss in three seasons).

 We look forward with relish to playing nextseason. We would like to thank all our coaches over thepast season for their hard work and dedication.

 We would especially like to thank Mrs Hughes formotivating us to constantly improve.

Eva Kelly & Rachel Foley

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Girl’s Hockey

 The under 16 Division 2 team of Harry Jephson,Luke Grene , Dylan Crews and Jacob Pim hadmixed fortunes. Jacob Pim played well to win all hismatches. The under 19 division 2 team of PatrickDonoghue, Daniel Owens, Oliver Yang and Marco

Stango competed well in their 3 matches. PatrickDonoghue maintained a ne record of 100% winratio in his singles.Pride of place goes to the Under 16 Division 1

team who qualied for the Munster tournament when the beat Waterpark in their nal match. The Waterpark team contained a Munster junior squadplayer. Our team of heroes was Mark Morris, TimSkelly, Jimmy Ko and Sacha O’Neill. Mark deserves

particular mention for winning all his matches. The Under 16 team competed in the MunsterSchools Badminton championships in Limerick inFebruary. The team performed well against much

stronger opposition made up of mostly clubplayers. This was the rst time that Newtown hadqualied for the Munsters. We look forward tofuture success.

 Andrew Cox

Badminton

Five teams travelled to Lismore in November tothe Waterford schools tournament. The under 14 Division 2 team of Ethan Roche,Precious Owouya, Zain Ishtiaq and Finn PowerGodson won half their games in their rst tour-

nament. The Under 16 Division 3 team of LiamMurray, Artaud Courage, Cian Mooney and JasonKenny recovered well from losing their rst gameto nish 2nd in their group.

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Orienteering

Orienteering proved to be a popular activity againthis year. The module of orienteering in Transition Year has provided a wealth of helpers

 who support the Waterford Orienteering Club inorganising training and competitive events.Newtown had their best ever year, winning threeof the six team prizes on offer at The Irish

Championships. Post Junior Certicate girls: Aoife Treacy was best individual at the SE schools insecond place with Vicki Ebert third, Emma Swiftseventh and Cathy Teevan eighth which earnedthem team gold. Cathy and Emma were joined

by Lily von Kenne and Sophie Lee to take teambronze at the Munsters. The team of Triona Harvey, Kate Cafferkey, Sophie Lee andCaoilinn Brady managed to pick up bronze team

medals at the Irish Championships. It was great tosee a range of senior girls involved.

First Form girls: Jordan Pim, Abi Coghlan,Sarah McEvoy O’Gorman, Oona Harvey and

Emma Pim had great success in winning team

prizes at the SE and Munster schools. Theyretained the team shield for Newtown for thethird consecutive year at the Irish Championships.

 Jordan Pim was the outstanding individual winning individual gold. First Form boys: William Wallis was the best individual supported by EthanRoche, Dmitry Kodzhaspirov, Alfred Sirbu, and

Finn Vogelaar. Second/Third Form girls:following on from 1st form success in theprevious two years, there were a large number ofenthusiastic participants, depending on exam andother commitments.

Paloma Balado was best at the SE Championshipsin second place with Samantha Foley, Jodie Gilesand Rachel Foley making up the rest of the gold

medal winning team. Jodie was joined by CaoimheLawless, Molly O’Shea and Sarah McDaid to winteam success at the Munsters. Newtown won theIrish team title for the rst time, sharing with St

Mary’s Mallow, the holders. The team was made upof Laura Anta Crespo (in a ne fourth place), Jodie,Molly and Samantha. Post Junior Certicate boys:Robert Pim was SE champion with Cian Hogan,

Matthew Treacy and Ciaran Finnegan close behindto bring team gold success. An understrength team went to the Munsters with Jonathan Pim best inthirteenth place. The team however had better luckat the Irish Championships at Castlecomer when

the boys won the team title with Robert Pim, Jonathan Pim, Ciaran Finnegan and Cian Hogan. Well done to all the other pupils who completed

courses but did not make the rst four on any ofthe teams. These results showed great team spiritand enthusiasm which we hope will continue formany years to come. Congratulations to RobertPim on his selection for the Irish team competing

in Romania at the European Youth OrienteeringChampionships in June.

 Andrew Cox

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Irish Water Safety Swimmingand Lifesaving Classes This has been a very busy year for us. We signed up totrain two days a week. We began by perfecting our stroketechnique and building our tness. We decided to make ahuge effort and to complete as many awards as we could inone school year. We were all at different levels of ability and worked hardas a team to get to where we are now, having just passedour Endurance 2 Award; this is a brilliant achievement inone year. Seoirse Joyce and Fionn O’Loughlin joined theteam for one term with the aim of passing their Rescue 2exam, congratulations to both of them on achieving this. JJ Rosenberg also joined us for the rst two terms and

completed three awards, well done.By the end of the third term, it was an all-female team. We passed all four Safety Awards and decided to take onthe challenge of the Endurance Award. This was going tobe our toughest challenge tness-wise but we were surethat if we put in the time and extra training sessions we would get there. We took our nal exam on Thursday 21stMay and were so happy when we were told by ourexaminer Sonny Condon that we had passed. He told usthat we passed with ‘ying colours’, Ms Coady said that we looked as if we could do the whole exam all over again with ease. All of our training had really paid off.

 We have learned so much this year; basic life support,including using automated external debrillators, CPR,perfected our technique and learned new rescue strokes. We really enjoyed lifesaving classes this year and we hope

to continue and become lifeguards next year to help saveother lives. Lifesaving was fun and we loved being partof it, whether it was me, who nally took up a sport, andyes, swimming is a sport, or Marie Claire who got personalsatisfaction out of soaking Ms Coady during every singlelesson, no matter what lane she swam in!It has been a great year. To mark our year and to presentthe ‘Commitment to Lifesaving Award’, an evening withMayor Lola O’Sullivan, who is also the Chairperson of the Waterford Area Safety Committee, was organised for us we were also joined by Sonny Condon, our examiner. We werepresented with a cool Irish Water Safety T-shirt which had

been especially printed for us!“It has always been a pleasure to conduct examinations inswimming and lifesaving in Newtown School, especiallysince they are taught by their excellent teacher Ms. TaraCoady. Best of luck to all of the students and stay safeduring the summer holidays.” William Condon, examiner,Irish Water Safety.It has been a very rewarding year for the students thatparticipated in lifesaving classes this year. They werededicated in every aspect; this is evident in their respectiveachievements. Well done to each member of the team andI look forward to working with you all again in September.

New members are welcome to join us in the new term.Congratulations also to Triona on receiving our‘Commitment to Lifesaving Award’ and best wishes forthe future. Tara Coady 

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Linguistics

Linguistics takes place every Wednesdayafter school and is run by Mr Dobbs. There we solve different languagepuzzles like trying to decipher an old writing system or translating aSwedish Metro map. It’s a greatopportunity to improve our problemsolving skills and logic. This year, manyNewtown students participated in therst round of the All Ireland Linguistics

Olympiad on February 2nd. Four of thestudents managed to qualify for the nalround of the competition in DCU onMarch 24th; Oliver Yang, BobbyDoorley, Jack Hanan and myself. Wetook the train up the night before spentthe night in a nearby hotel.

 The following morning we walked downto DCU and completed the individualcompetition and the group competition.Unfortunately we didn’t make it on tothe international team but it was goodfun solving the problems. We would like to thank Mr Dobbs forteaching us throughout the year andhelping us become better problemsolvers.

Daniel Morris

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1. Cross out every second letter beginning with the first.

2.  From the first race we see that for every 100m Podge runs, Rodge runs 90m. Therefore in the second race, they

will be tied 10m before the finish line and since Podge is faster than Rodge, he will run the last 10m faster than

Rodge.

3.  Every time two people shake hands the number of people who have shaken hands an even number of times either

goes up two or goes down two, similarly for the number of people who have shaken hands and odd number of

times. Therefore they both either stay odd or stay even depending on what they started as. Since after the first

handshake there are two people who have shaken hands an odd number of times we have proven the statement.

4.  Since the product of the three ages is 36 we write out every triplet of multiples of three: (1,1,36), (1,2,18),

(1,3,12), (1,4,9), (1,6,6), (2,2,9), (2,3,6), (3,3,4). Since Podge obviously knows his own favourite number and

knowing it isn’t enough information that must mean there are multiple triplets with the same sum. From summing

the numbers in the triplets we find that only the triplets (1,6,6) and (2,2,9) have the same sum. When Rodge

mentions his eldest we then know that the ages of his children must be 2, 2 and 9 because for the other triplet

there are two children with the same age.5.  We could say x and y are the numbers of euros and cents respectively leaving us with a total of 100x+y cents.

Swapping the euros and cents, subtracting 5 and equating the result with our original equation leaves us with

199x-98+5=0 which is solvable but would take a long time to do manually. Instead if we say x and y are the

numbers of euros and cents again but don’t change the euros into cents. We then swap them again and subtract

the 5 leaving us with y euros and x-5 cents. Solving y = 2x and x - 5 = 2y leaves us with a clearly nonsensical

solution. If we observe that the number of cents when doubled could exceed one euro then we can try this case

instead. This would leave us with y=2x+1 and x-5=2y-100, accounting for the extra euro in both equations.

Solving results with x = 31 and y=63, i.e. 31.63.

6.  We could use formulae for different volumes of the sphere and sub in r as the radius which would eventually

cancel out in the end to leave us with the area as 36 ϖ in3 but this isn’t a very nice way to do it. Instead observe

that the question itself asks us for a definite value meaning there must be only one possible value for the answer.

Therefore if we find the volume for one value of the width of the hole, we have our answer. Since the answer must

hold for every value of width of the hole we can say the width of the hole is 0 and the height must still be 6 in, i.e.

we have a sphere of diameter 6 in. Using the formula for the area of a sphere we find the volume is 36 ϖ in3.

7.  Since we are interested with the remainder after division by 10, i.e. the units place, we write the number of

chickens as 10x+y. Therefore the amount they make from selling them is that number squared which is

100x2+20xy+y2. Notice that since Podge started first and took the last full 10 there must have been an odd

number of tens. From the above equation the only variable which could have an odd number of tens is the y2.

Since y is less than 10 the only values y2 could take are 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64 and 81. Noting that theonly values with an odd number of tens both end in 6 we know that the remainder is 6. Therefore Rodge has

4 less than Podge and Podge’s penknife must have been worth 2.

  Daniel Morris

2. Podge 4. 9, 2 and 2 5.  31.63 6. 36 in3 7.  2

Problem Page Answers

Problem Page Solutions

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1Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

It is with honour that

I write a few words

as President of the

NMFOSA following what

has been a year of huge

change and challenge for

Newtown School.

My former classmates (and former

teachers) might nd me a somewhatunlikely individual to hold such a position,

because like so many of us once we

walk out the gates for the last time after

our nal Leaving Cert exam (in 1993 in my case) we hardly

give the School a second thought until called back for our

rst reunion after 10 years. However, it is a demonstration of

the mark that Newtown leaves on a pupil that so many Old

Scholars become involved in the School as they age, be it to

attend the Old Scholars weekend or to become involved in

the Old Scholars committee. A further mark of that inuence

upon us is to note that year after year so many current pupilssurnames are recognisable generations past. It is proof of the

value that we place in Newtown’s unique learning environment.

It is therefore with more than casual interest that we observe

how the School has responded to the nancial challenges of

the past 10 years and entry into the free education scheme is

clearly one of the dening moments in the School’s history. We

welcome the availability of secondary education through the

Quaker ethos being made available to all rather than just to

those who could afford it, and we hope that this will bring new

vibrance and life into the walls and classrooms of Newtown.

This rst school year operating the free scheme has no doubt

been a difcult one, and at the time of press more changes in

the School’s system and structure are no doubt in the pipeline

to better equip School management with the tools necessary

to run the school effectively. With challenge however comes

opportunity, and I believe I speak on behalf of all Old Scholars

when I say that the School has our support in these changing

and challenging times. Many Old Scholars will be aware of

the Vision 20/20 project which was launched by the School a

few years ago – a project to modernise the School’s facilitiesthat was excellently conceived by School committee and its

advisors. We also hope that this project, although overtaken

by events in recent years, is still in the mind of School

management, in spirit and ambition if not

in form.

 This year also closes with sadness, as

we have witnessed great loss to our Old

Scholars family. John Pollard, class of

1991, and Callum Chambers, class of

2010, passed away far to soon and their

families have our deepest sympathies and

prayers. We have also lost one of the great

members of the Newtown family, Sue Pim,

wife of Alan and mother of Andrew, Deirdre

(Tia), Nigel and Kevin. Few Old Scholars

of Alan and Sue’s era as staff can fail

to have been inuenced by their values

and beliefs. Sue’s memorial service was

held in a packed School Hall in February and there were many

wonderful words spoken, a touching event for all present.

I would encourage all Old Scholars to make the most of their

connection to the School through the Old Scholars Association,

as it is not only here for nostalgia purposes, but also forms a

vital link between the current and ongoing educational services

to our youth and the history of those who made it what it is.

There is a key - the School made us what we are today, the

inuences of the dedicated staff in all areas of the school run

deep within us – just look at the proles of past pupils in the

‘Old Scholars News’ sections, look for trends of adventure,

a thirst for knowledge and exploration, entrepreneurship and

individuality, and realise where those traits came from. Old

Scholars have a role to play in these changing times - by

remaining involved in the School you have the opportunity to

help keep those spirits alive.

Finally thanks to all those who keep the show on the road –

to Keith Lemon and the School for hosting the Association

throughout the year and especially on the Old Scholars

weekend, to the kitchen staff who cater superbly, (and

congratulations to Anne Foley who celebrates an amazing 40

years on the kitchen staff), to those who give up their time on

the Committee and especially to secretary Oriel Woodbyrne

who really does all the work, together with treasurer Peter

Pearce and Jonathan Fletcher who is omnipresent and to

George Jacob who does a superb job editing the NMFOSA

section of the Review.

I look forward to meeting many of you at our Reunion in

September.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT - OLD SCHOLARS

nOld Scholars President Andre Thompson

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2Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

REUNION WEEKEND

The Annual Newtown, Mountmellick & Foy Old

Scholars ReunionProgramme of events for Saturday 26th & Sun 27th September 2015

Saturday

All afternoon (from noon)  Archival photo display & tea/coffee in Legoland.

2pm Hockey match, old scholars v school (Players of all levels and ages are welcome, Contact Jonathon

Fletcher 087-6476416 or [email protected]). Free swim will take place after match so bring your

togs.

7.30pm for 8pm  Reunion Dinner, Dooley’s Hotel, Waterford. 051 304574. Tickets: €40. Meals should be booked and

paid for in advance. This can be done online at www.newtownoldscholars.com. Those attending with

class your groups may also book with your class co-ordinator (Below). All others may also book with

Peter Pearce Tel 087 2760868 or email: [email protected]

Sunday 28th September:

12 Noon Archival photo display, tea/coffee 

12.30pm AGM of the Newtown, Mountmellick & Foy Old Scholars association will take place in the Study

Hall, all are welcome.

1.30pm Lunch in school dining room, priced €10 per adult, tickets must be booked and paid for in

advance. www.newtownoldscholars.com

  The old scholars tree planting and group photographs will follow lunch in the old scholar’s

garden in school. 

Those attending with class your groups may also book with your (YEAR) class co-ordinator (Below). All others may also book with Peter Pearce Tel 087 2760868 or email:[email protected]

Class 2005 David Quinn [email protected] 087-2999927

Class 2000 Kerri Clarke [email protected]

Class 1995 Ellen Fitzmaurice 087-2393429 [email protected]

Class 1990 Ruth Milne [email protected]

Class 1985 Sarah (Cleary) Molony [email protected]

Class 1970 Kathy Dunne [email protected]

Class 1960 TBC

Class 1965 Alison Taylor Hill [email protected]

Accommodation Information

Dooley’s Hotel, the Quay, Waterford City. 051 873531. Ask for Newtown old scholars rooms/rates.

Woodlands Hotel, Dunmore Road, Waterford 051 304574

Samuel Heritage B&B, Ballymacloda, Halfway house, Dunmore Rd, Waterford 051-875094

Accommodation inquires can also be made to Failte Ireland South East, Information ofce 051 875823

Any other enquires can be made to Oriel Woodbyrne 087-6371080. Cluain Laighean, Ballyroe, Athy, Co. Kildare, or [email protected]

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3Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

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4Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

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5Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

SUZIE SHORTEN - EVENT MANAGER

Suzie Shorten has been

involved in staging shows by

Madonna, U2 and The Rolling

Stones, and is now the director of

her own company, Blackbird Event

Management.

We caught up with her recently to talk about her

career, and what she’s up to now.

When did you attend Newtown?

From 1988 to 1994.

How was your experience?

I loved school, I loved the social side of school, spending

time with friends and creating things to do.

Who was your favorite teacher?

Roger Garbett, I adored him and I was also terried of him,

Mr Denninston was always inspiring me to think outside the

creative box, TV, production and studio work was encouraged

and we spent hours making videos and news reports.

Did you have any other family in Newtown?

My older sister left a legacy behind her, she had just nished

when I arrived, but those who remembered her often saved

me places at the top of the dinner Q and that was always

very cool.

Did you enjoy boarding?

Loved it, loved borrowing clothes and beauty products,

getting up to mischief and generally being independent.

What’s your best memory of Newtown?

So many good memories, I loved serving as a lifeguard and

leaving prep 5 min early to get the swimming pool ready for

night swimmers (the pool was out -doors at that time) during

the summer months, those hot Sunny days were rare which

makes the memory even nicer.

I remember Sunday Lunches and Waterford Blaa’s while

waiting for post to arrive at morning break. I remember the

close bond I have and still have with my classmates.

I remember being terried in Mr Hanlons class in case he

would ask me any history question. I remember hearing the

phone ring under the stairs and if you answered it you could

spent 20 min running around the school trying to locate the

correct person (pre mobile phones)

Did you play sports?

I love sports, I played Hockey and was lucky enough to

usually have a place on the Jnr or Snr A team, I loved tennis,

played cricket and ran and swam, any sport I could take

part in I could until I injured my back in 5th year, then sports

slowed down.

What did you want to do when you left Newtown?

I wanted to work in TV or production or Music or something

arty, My late father produced documentaries and I wasalways inspired by his work ethic and his knowledge of this

market, so wanted to do something similar.

Did you have an interest in event management then?

I hung around with friends who were in bands, I wasn’t

as musically talented as them and remember preferring

backstage then being on stage, for my 21st birthday I booked

a venue the morning of my party (150 people coming) (the

original venue lost its license that day) and organized 3 bands

to play at my birthday, so from an early age I have been

moving in the event management direction.

How did you get in to the event management business?After college I got a job in a recording studio, then onto Hot

Press Magazine, where I made most of my music contacts. I

helped organize The Hot press rock awards and managed to

convince Nina Simone to come to Dublin to accept a Lifetime

Achievement Award. I guess people took notice of me at that

point and wondered how on earth I managed to swing it!

From there I was offered work on Wittnness Festival in 2000,

which then turned into Oxegen festival where I worked for 13

seasons straight until it ended in 2013.

I stayed with MCD for all that time, gaining a huge amount

of experience working on massive outdoor shows- 80,000 –

120,000 (Phoenix Park) working with the likes of Madonna,

n Suzie Shorten against the New York skyline

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6Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

 U2, Rolling Stones, Beyonce, etc.

 Highlights of Career

Working on the concert for President Obama, meeting him

and working closely with his detailed security was an

amazing experience, also with the Arctic Monkeys on

their rst Irish show in Whelan’s - they played to 300

people. I also worked on The Script’s rst show, they

sold 78 tickets and gave me a demo CD which I still have

somewhere.

I was also lucky enough to tour with some international

artists like Arcade Fire, Kaiser Chiefs, Florence & the

Machine. In 2010 we set up Blackbird Event Management

What do you enjoy most about Blackbird?

I love the fact that we have a very unique client list, we

work with some amazing companies world-wide on bespoke

events. We have a huge amount of experience in organizing

events from fashion shows, to 3 day music festivals.

What advice would you give for someone who was to

work in your feld

Volunteer at your local festival or apply as a volunteer for

bigger festivals and work hard. If you are good at what you

do you will get noticed and the next time a paying job comes

up they might think of you.

What are Blackbird Plans for the future?

We are working with a new and exciting International client

at the moment on some summer and Christmas events, this

begins early in the year and planning all the way through.

www.blackbirdeventmanagement.com

n Suzie, some years ago with former Sex Pistols manager

and impressario Malcolm McLaren, and future Irish

president Michael D Higgins.

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7Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

D

iscovering why Napoleon

Bonaparte’s hair ended up in

Waterford, or how the county

also has some of the only knownremnants of the wardrobe of King Henry

VIII are just some of the questions ex-

Newtownian Kevin Pim has set out to

answer in a edgling lm career.

‘Unique and Quirky Waterford’ is a project Kevin has been

working on for some years, as a part of a TV package for the

‘culturally curious visitor’, as he says himself.

“ Of all the things I learnt in Newtown it was not to give up. Its

four years since I started out as a producer, and I now have

seven hours of an unnished television series and a few other

projects that I hope will make it to a TV near you soon.”

The aforementioned series is about an Irish family that

escapes the everyday to go on a trip of a lifetime around

Australia in an RV for nine months. The story is Kevin’s own -

and recounts his own young families travels ‘down under ’.

“I’ve just nished ‘Unique and Quirky Waterford’, which

began as a college assignment at Nemeton TV in Ring, Co.

Waterford, but to date it has taken over 1000 hours to get to it’s

present state.

“The whole series is an attempt to take the viewer off the

beaten track, and learn some things about Waterford that

they might never have

heard.”

Aside from the accounts

about Napoleon and

Henry VIII there are

stories about the WW1

submarine that was

used by a Dunmore

East family as a hot

water bottle, he braves

Tramore’s freezing

Guillemene in the

depths of winter, and

tests the legend of The

Metal Man for himself.

Kevin has worked on

other freelance projects

too, and produced a

video for his classmate

David Ashmore of Sherry

Fitzgerald to assist with

the promotion of the sale of the castle owned by the Knights of

Glin in Co. Limerick. “Mind you, it’s still on the market I think,”

he adds ruefully.

You can check Kevin out on Twitter: @SporthouseTV or WWW.

Facebook.com/SporthouseProductions. Or visit his site

www.SomewhereOutThere.co.au

 

n Above: Kevin braves Tramore’s

Guillemene in the depths of winter. Top:

Filming his documentary in Australia.

Solving puzzle of Napoleon’s hair!

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‘I ran away, but want mykids to go to Newtown’

THE HUGH BELL INTERVIEW

H

ugh Bell attended Newtown in

the 1970s - but at aged 11 ran

away back home. He went on to

love his time in Waterford, and has fond

memories to this day.

A successful businessman who has had a many and varied

career to date, we caught up with in in Hong Kong, where he

runs his own rm, is happily married to Ting, and has three

young kids. He’s planning on returning to live in Ireland for the

rst time in over a quarter century, and has put his childrens’

names down at Newtown.

•Tell us about yourself?

I attended Newtown for six years (1974-79) and to many I was

‘$pu’. I got that name on my 1st day. I arrived in the Spring

term and in an effort to skip past a group of my peers gathered

around the front steps of the main building, I was asked my

name. “Hugh”, I replied. “That sounds like spew” came the

reply. It stuck quickly, so I decided I ought to re-brand it, by

changing the ‘S’ to a ‘$’ and the spelling to $pu. It became

more like a moniker than a nickname.

 .

•Why did you end up in Waterford - your folks weren’t

from the area, and you were born in London?

I was born in London, but lived all my life in Dublin. My father

thought it best for my brother and one sister to go to Newtown.

When I saw the brochure, I thought we were going to a holiday

resort. It seemed like a paradise for kids.

• ... but then you ran away?

Within a few weeks I got a bit homesick. Another friend, Sean

O’Connell felt the same and like most 11 year olds with vivid

imaginations we thought about absconding and living on the

lam. In pretty short order most of the dorm were in on the

caper. In my memory, it became bigger than Sean and I. A datewas set and on the appointed day, I was awoken by several

excited boys, telling me it was time!

We set off just before 6am, with two packets of Tayto, a 1/4

of a bottle of orange squash, and about 30p between us. We

thumbed our way to Dublin and arrived at my house nine hours

later. We managed to catch four lifts. Our story was we were

boy scouts on a charity walk to Dublin.

My parents were surprised to see us. My father drove us

back to NSW the next day. ‘FEF’ Foster made us sit an Irish

Intermediate examination paper, which I nished in an hour.

Mr. Wigham, the headmaster at the time later told our parents

that we showed great initiative to make it safely to our

destination. He then cancelled a school holiday, and we went

from heroes to zeros with our classmates within no time!

What memories do you have of Newtown?

My early letters home were full of requests to get off rugby, and

other things that seemed to be too onerous. After our running

away episode my letters home were full of requests for new

rugby boots, and other things. I understood being on the team

n Hugh Bell

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9Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

was a great way to build friendships. I

thoroughly enjoyed my time at NSW.

What did you do when you nished

school?

My career counseling interview by Mr.

McCormick lasted about two minutes.

“Well Bell, what do you you intend to do

when you nish school?. “Work for my

father sir”. “OK, send in Boyd” is how

I remember it. That was it. True to my

word, I did work for my father, but within

a few months, I headed off to Germany

with another schoolmate Julian Dunlop.

We were joined in Hamburg by Myles

McSwiney, and we ened up moving to

Berlin, where David Bowie was living, so

it made sense to us.

We lived beside the Berlin Wall,

and immersed ourselves in the local

community of Kreutzberg, which at the

time was full of Turkish immigrants and

West German students on government

grants to study in Berlin. It was a very

exciting time to be there. After six

months, I moved to Sicily for the winter,

before returning to Dublin again.

At one point you earned a living

designing cufinks?

I moved to London in 1983 and

soon after to Sandhurst and was

commissioned into the 5th Royal

Inniskillen Dragoon Guards.

I enjoyed ve great years serving in

tanks in Germany and as an Aide De

Camp to the Chief of Staff Of the United

Nations Peace keeping Forces in Cyprus

(UNFICYP). I was awarded the Nobel

Prize for Peace along with 76,000 other

UN Forces personnel in 1988. I suppose

I was lucky in the timing of my posting

to the UN, but it’s a funny little anecdote

that I can tell my grandchildren some day. 

After I left the Army, I couldn’t get a

 job. 120 CV’s, 11 responses and no

interviews. So I thought I ought to do

something myself. I took a night course in

Jewellery making, and sold the 20 pairs

of silver cufinks I made to the other

students. That’s how it started. I invested

the prots in more tools and materials

and made more. Then I switched to a

design with semi-precious oval cabochon

stones and sold tens of thousands to

shirt makers around London and the UK.

I later sold the knowledge and contacts

to Thomas Pink.

You were an early internet

entrepreneur, and later a social media

pioneer. Tell us more? 

With the cufink prots, I bought an

Apple Mac. It was 1994, it had a modem,

a browser called Mosiac and I saw

a website called Yahoo with 17 links

on it. I wrote four sides of A4 on my

view of the Internet and sold it to three

advertising agencies in London. One of

them offered me a job to head up their

Internet department (of one!) for a client

called Abbey National, which was the 5th

largest UK retail bank at the time.

Within 12 months this became a

business and it grew rapidly. One of

these was ‘Peoples-Poll’ which we

took to CNN (part of Time Warner) for

investment in 2000. We agreed terms

with CNN, Time Warner was bought

by AOL, and all Time Warner deals

evaporated. I walked away and took a

year off.

What prompted you to up sticks for

Hong Kong?

After the Internet experience, a friend

proposed that we startup a fashion

 jewellery business making Meteorite

 jewellery.

He had acquired 500 kilos of Gibeon

Meteorite and thought it would sell on

television shopping channels. I went over

to China to make the collection in 2002,

arriving at Chinese New Year, when the

country is effectively closed for a month.

THE HUGH BELL INTERVIEW

n ‘Dressing up’ at Newtown. From left Hugh Bell, Myles McSwiney and Martin Davis.

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10Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

We sold collections on QVC in the UK and Germany and

another channel in USA. In 2003 another person asked us to

make a product he had invented. It was called Laserpod. This

project required me to move to Hong Kong.

So in 2004 I condensed my life into three suitcases and bought

a one-way ticket. Wired magazine called ‘Laserpod’ the Lava

Lamp of the 21st Century and the business took off. We soldLaserpod on four continents. I closed the business in 2013.

China is a great nation, it’s people proud and it inuence

growing. Outsiders will always be outsiders and family is family.

People are very friendly, extremely welcoming and giving.

My family and I were in the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan,

where over 90,000 people died or went missing. Apart from

being a life changing event, it was the rst of several catalysts

that galvanised the people and the government of China.

The 2008 Olympics swiftly followed, which drew fantastic pridein the nation. After that China put a man in space, which put

them on par with USA and Russia. The nancial collapse in the

West showed them that Western leaders were wholly fallible.

China had conviction in the belief that they didn’t need the

West so much anymore. They have condence in their own

abilities and the power they wield. They have come of age.

Do you stay in touch with people from Newtown?

Tissa Davis lived out here for a few years. She ew 747’s for

Cathy Pacic. Mareike VonEngelbrechten lives on the same

island as we do, and is married with two fantastic kids and

rescue dogs. We have one rescue dog and two budgies.

I keep in regular contact with Myles McSwiney, and more

recently a lot more people through Facebook. I joined

Facebook only this year and it was like walking back into a

party that I left 30 years ago. The party was in full swing and

the atmosphere the same as I left it in 1979!

 

Are there Newtown people who helped and inspired you?

Maurice Wigham – A prince amongst men, demonstrated that

life could be just ne and that if you approached it with interest

and respect, it would treat you well. Alan Pim – A furnace

of energy and enthusiasm, he taught me that nature was

simple enough, mountains were meant to be climbed. F.E.F. -

Diligence and effort are always great allies. Henry Collins- If

you are going to do something, do it with pride and enjoy it

what you do. Mrs. Robinson – a true magician where some

mysteries remain better off unsolved. She managed to wash,

sort, fold, and return most every item of clothing to each of us

every week. I still haven’t worked that one out.

So you look back at NSW with some fondness?

n Hugh with his kids - Bijou, Coco and Flynn.

THE HUGH BELL INTERVIEW

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I think it was Sammy McClure who said at collect one day

that we would look back at NSW as the best days of our lives.

They’re denitely in the medals!

What is Hong Kong like for an entrepreneur?

Hong Kong was built as a trading post. It was all about themoney then and is all about the money now. HK is a hugely

energetic city. It’s a travel hub, truly international. It’s exotic.

Tropical sh are just called sh here. It’s like living inside the

Blade Runner movie – so futuristic and rurally rustic at the

same time.

 

...and you started a family?

I got married in 2005 to Ting, who is from Sichuan in China.

We have three children, Bijou (9), Flynn (7), and Coco (4). We

love living here, but we live on an outlying island, which is a

25 minute fast ferry ride outside Hong Kong. It’s a bit like ClubMed meets The Truman Show. There are no cars here, and

golf cars cost HK$2.2 million (Euro200k). We don’t have one!

Housing here is tiny compared to other countries. Hong Kong

is run by a group of tycoons, who own most everything and as

a result we pay most of our monthly outgoings to them in one

way or another – housing, utilities, telecoms, transport, food.

Is Hong Kong now defnitively ‘home?

This year, I put my children down for Newtown. We are

planning to return to Ireland in three years or so, my children

can go to Newtown. I want them to have what I had in terms ofa schooling. What I consider proper schooling. NSW nurtured

my character and enabled me to make choices. My academic

results were not great, but those who enjoyed studying

achieved great results. NSW gave me a sense of belief that I

could literally do what I wanted, and I still do today.

What is work nowadays?

I spent a year or so living in Sichuan, China. Whilst there I got

involved in the entrepreneurship and startup eco-systems. It

was like time travelling back to London in the mid 90’s. The

same energy and many of the same ideas. Since I have a few

silver wisps and experience of the 90’s Dot com boom, people

looked to me as a mentor.

It was a bit of a shock, because for the rst time I realised

I’m older and more experienced now. So I embraced it. I

recommend mentoring or other forms of coaching. It all aboutgiving back and nurturing those who show enthusiasm,

promise and also those who are perhaps too shy or timid

but hugely capable. Its about helping others see the promise

in themselves to do what they want, with condence, make

mistakes, have purpose and take responsibilities.

 

THE HUGH BELL INTERVIEW

n Hugh Bell and wife Ting Wang

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12Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

Minutes of the A.G.M of the Newtown, Mountmellick & Foyonian

old Scholars association held at Newtown School Waterford,Sunday the 28th September 2014.

Present:  Ken Murphy, Trevor Grubb, Debbie Bailey, Andre Thompson, Donald McKlay, Ann Kinch, Helen Bailey (Murphy), David Harrison, Richard De

Courcy, Heather Stewart(Grubb), Joy Simpson (Chapman), Ray Simpson, John Williams, Michael Thompson, Sara lee O’Brien, Peter Pearce, Jonathon Fletcher

and Oriel Woodbyrne.

Apologies:  Bob Burns, Roger and Joan Johnson, Nicky Johnson, David Murray and Bertie Finnegan. Debbie suggested that it might be a good idea to

send both Bertie and Bob get well cards as both are in hospital this weekend and therefore missing the reunion.

 The minutes of the previous meeting were read, and they were accepted and signed by Jonathon Fletcher.

Treasurers Report:  Peter read his report for year 2013. The audited accounts are printed in full in the review.

New Officers and Committee:

 The following officers were proposed by Debbie Bailey and seconded by Trevor Grubb for the year Sept 2014 to Sept 2015.

Incoming President: Andre Thompson

Vice President: Sara Lee O’Brien

 Treasurer: Peter Pearce

Secretary: Oriel Woodbyrne

Auditor: Brian Little

Editor: George Jacob

Stepping down from the committee this year is outgoing president David Harrison and David Murray who is going on to do a masters in Dublin, Jonathon

thanked both for their work and effort with the committee.

Other members proposed were Bob Burns and Clodagh Webb leaving the committee the option to co-opt another person if required.

Newtown Review: A huge job was taken on this year with the

addresses outside of Ireland and the updating of their information.

Last year we had no reviews returned from outside of Ireland, this

year posting out went from 170 stamps to 40 stamps a lot of people

updated their information and opted to now receive the review on

line.

 The review was very late this year due to a lot of issues on the school

side, unfortunately these things are out of our control. Next year

we are hoping the school can assure us of an earlier finish date as

September is too late for us. Jonathon has volunteered as the Old

scholar’s representative to the school editor and hopefully this will

cut down on phone calls and time delays.

 Trevor Grubb thanks all of the committee for their endless work on

the review and suggested that it might be worth looking into doing

a separate old scholars review and at least then we would be in

control of the time delays.

Report on the gathering: We had 84 for Lunch on the Sunday not

a huge uptake on the event. Ciara Harrison and Sara Lee O’Brien

did a great job with the art exhibition in the study hall and special

thanks has to go to Andrew Pim and Richie for their help in setting

up. Ciara and Sara are hoping to continue it as an event every year.

AOB: Andre Thompson reported back about the data protection

proposal that was brought up at last year’s meeting, there has been

no follow up on it as the Capital development fund was put on hold

for the moment.

Before handing the chain of office over to incoming president Andre

 Thompson, Jonathon took the opportunity to thank all the com-

mittee for their continued hard work over the years and drew the

meeting to an end.

 There being no other business the meeting was finished.

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14Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

Accounts for the year ended 31st. December

2014Newtown Mountmellick and Foy Old Scholars Association

Income and Expenditure Account for year ending 31/12/14

Income (All figures in €)  2014 2013

Income from investments 2,014 1,780

Donation 147 1,050

Advertising Revenue 2,900 2,750

Profit (loss) on sale of ties 0 0

Profit on annual reunion 1,036 562

------- -------

  6,098 6,142

  ==== ====

Expenditure

Activities/Awards:

Poetry & Short Story Comp. 100 100

Young Social Innovators 0 200

Photography Competition 100 100

InterPro Hockey Contribution 0 0

Hockey Jacket Contribution 0 600

Hockey trip to Holland 0 200

  ------- -------

  200 1,300

Printing and stationary 1,938 1,938

Postage 3,550 4,640

Bank interest and charges 58 48

Investment Management Fee 200 200

Sundry 0 0

  --------- -------

6,433 8,200  ===== =====

Suplus (deficit) on normal activities -336 -2,059

==== =====

Balance Sheet as at 31st. December 2014

  2014 2013

Investments, (Note1)

Balance at 1st January 2013 177,800 171,738

Purchases (Sales) during year 6,062 6,062

----------- -----------

  177,800 177,800

----------- ----------

 

Current Assets

Stock 3,732 3,807

Debtors 2,164 400

Bank of Ireland (Current Account) 10,323 7,051

Irish Permanent TSB (Eric de Courcy) 45,557 45,557

--------- ----------

  61,776 56,740

Current Liabilities

Creditors 51 675

--------- ----------

 

Net Current Assets 61,725 56,065

----------- -----------

  239,525  233,864 

======= ======

Financed by 2014 2013

Capital Account

Balance at 1st January 2014 97,536 97,595

Deficit for year ended 31st Dec 2014 -336 -2,059

---------- ----------

  92,200 95,536

Life Membership Account

Balance at 1st January 2014 91,510 88,950

Subscriptions received during year 4,160 2,560

---------- ----------

  95,670 91,510Eric DeCourcy Fund

Balance at 1st January 2014 46,817 46,347

Donations & Interest received in year 2,628 1,260

-------- ----------

  49,445 47,607

Student Music Grants 790 790

  ---------- ----------

  46,668 46,817

239,525 233,864 

====== ======

Note 1 to the account

Investments

  31\12\13 31\12\14

Bank of Ireland 5,480 5,480Allied Irish Bank 4,139 4,139

Blackrock Asset Mngt (Deutschland) 205 205

City of London 1,680 1,680

Irish Life & Permanent plc 1,947 1,947

Grafton Group 2,540 2,540

Aviva 2,700 2,700

Greencore Group Ord 7,950 7,950

E on Ag Npv 470 470

Market Value on 31\12\14 was 90,659 euro (31\12\13 was 77,920).

On behalf of the committee: Peter Pearce, Hon Treasurer

Auditors Report

I have audited the financial statements and received all the information I

found necessary. In my opinion the financial statements give a true and fair

view of the Association’s affairs at 31st December 2014 and of its result for

the year then ended.

Brian S. W. Little F.C.A., Hon Auditor. 5th May 2015

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16Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

Old

Scholars

ReunionGallery

2014

n Alan and Sue Pim honoured - A plaque was unveiled onOld Scholars Weekend to honour the enormous contribution

made by Alan and Sue to water safety and swimming atNewtown and more widely, through the years.

n 2004 - Back Row: Sorcha Schnittger, Helga Bryan (Gilbert),

Jessica Stevenson (Gotto), Laura Cassin, Kelly Power, Jenny Scotson,

Caroline Torrie, Inez Randow, Sophie Sahr, Stephen Peirce, Peter

Hyland. Front Row: Cosimo Du, Jamie Evans, Ryan McLoughlin,

Brian Kennedy, Rose Paget, Brian Dagg, Philip Galloway, Robert

Marsh, John Walsh

n The Baileys, a Newtown family: Nicholas (1980), Cedric (1950),

Jillian (Barrett) (1951), Andrew (1980), Debbie (1976) and Lynn

(Bailey) Jennings (1974).

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17Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

From top:

n 1984 - Back row: Alastair Pim, Ed

Crotty, Rob Milne, Clodagh (Coad)

Nicholson, Gilly (Lazenby) Milne, Andrew

Checkett, Alan Coad. Front row: Des

Jackson, Keith Murphy, Sarah (Hill) Bean,

Andrew (Chuck) Walker, Ralph Bingham,

Luke Crosbie

n 1989- Ruth Crampton Laverty, Caroline

Pim, Dara Scallan Carberry, Siobhan Dier,

Fiona Checkett. Front: Pierre Fewer, Percy

Kingston, Duncan MacLachlan, Ciaran

Kelly, Clarke Allen.

n President hand-over -JonathanFletcher (right) hands over the chain of

office to the new OS President Andre

 Thompson (left).

n 1964 - Ricky Little, Wendy McChesney

(Wardell), John Williams and Clive Allen.

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18Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

n 1954 -Back row:- Elizabeth Carter(McKevitt),Dermott Ashmore, Stuart Walker, Heather (Grubb) Stewart,Joan Matheson, Sue (Johnson) Pim, Alan Pim, Trevor Grubb,David Johnson, Frank Nuttall, Anthony Sherard, EoghainGanly, Donald McKay, Geoffrey Coad. Front row- AdrienneJessop, Leslie Matheson, Olive (Wharton) Daunt, Eleanor(Boyce) Johnson, Ann Kinch, Sheila (Pearce) Moore, Helen(Bailey) Murphy, Sylvia (Buchanan) Torrie, Reverend PhilipKnowles, Judy (Galbraith) Craig, Richard deCourcy.

n 1974 - Back Row: Nicky Campbell, Brian O’Neill, RandalMcGuckin, Dessie Daunt, Sue (Dyer) Lafarge, Charles WhiteFront row: Sandra (McKechnie) McLoughlin, Sarah (Dove)Morley, Patricia (Corrigan) Loftus, Lynn (Bailey) Jennings,Carol (Newenham) Hodder, Linda (Johnson) Quille.

n 2004 - Back Row: Sorcha Schnittger, Helga Bryan (Gilbert),Jessica Stevenson (Gotto), Laura Cassin, Kelly Power, JennyScotson, Caroline Torrie, Inez Randow, Sophie Sahr, StephenPeirce, Peter Hyland Front Row: Cosimo Du, Jamie Evans,Ryan McLoughlin, Brian Kennedy, Rose Paget, Brian Dagg,Philip Galloway, Robert Marsh, John Walsh

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19Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

n Squads for the students vs old Scholars Hockey match

on reunion weekend.

n 1994 - Adam Rynne, Ali (Egan Langley) Tyndale,

Martina (Darcy) Firbank, Stephen Mannix, Isobel (Bailey)

Baudu, Rob McConnell, Mark Deevy, Ross O’Shea, Robert

Corrigan

Middle Row: Cullen Allen, Stuart Musgrave, Nina (Faeste)

Casey, Ivan Varian, Sarah McBride, Mary Claire Grealy,

Rachael (Kellett) Comiskey, Daniel Tully, Thomas Reid,

Duncan Robinson, Nicky Stokes.

Front row: Suzie Shorten, Joanna Cunningham, Aedin

(Boissel) Fiel, Mary (Logue) Lyford, Tara Lynch, Jenny

(Steele )Irvine, Aura lee (O’Halloran) Casey, and Aishling

Wheeler.

n Members of Pim family attend unveiling of plaque

to Alan and Sue at the old scholars weekend September2014. L-R Jeni, Pamela, (Sam Pim in arms), Robert, Nigel,

Mark Wooller, Tia (Deirdre) Sue and Alan Pim, Andrew,

Jacob, Jonathan, Lisa,L-R kneeling: Amelia, Henry, Emma,

Jordan.

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20Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA SectionNewtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

Hong Kong Streets

Mareike Von

Engelbrechtenhas lived in

Hong Kong since the

1990s. She works as

a photographer for a

children’s wear company,

but also takes fascinating

street photography in the

city she has grown to love.

“Hong Kong is a crowded and vibrant

city made up of towering high rises a

magnicent skyline and a harbour with

stunning views. On my arrival in the 90s,

tired after a 12 hour ight I was struck by

the noise, the humidity and the melting

heat, and initially wanted to just turn heel

and head back home,” she says.

“I soon became accustomed to the

craziness of the city however, and havesince then worked in various design

companies. I met my husband here. We

have two children.

“My pastime is street photography and

Hong Kong with its busy, colourful and

cluttered streets is the perfect place for

any photographer. It’s a modern city but as

you venture into it’s nooks and crannies,

the remnants of an older Hong Kong are

still visible. Its here in these vibrant and

colourful streets where east meets west

that I like to wander and look for interesting

people and sights to photograph.

I like to portray the city and it’s atmosphere

at street level and after dark is an

especially interesting time as late night

shoppers head into the little outdoor dai

pai dongs (Hong Kong style cafés) dotted

along the alleyways.

Most of my work is sold to interior

decorators and Expats leaving Hong Kong

who want to take some memories of the

city home with them.

n Mareike, with husband Grégoire, and children Leah and Tristan

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Hong Kong Streets

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OBITUARIES

SUE PIM (1944-2015)

Sue Pim, who died on

15th January 2015

was a well known

member of the Society

of Friends, and the

beloved wife of Alan,

a teacher and PE

instructor at Newtown

for more than 30 years.

She was the sister of Roger Johnson,

another long-established member of the

teaching staff at Newtown.

Having suffered from cancer initially in 2004, she led an active

life until early in 2012 when her illness returned. With immense

bravery, Sue with Alan and immediate family faced up to the

prospect of her short time left. Hopes were initially high that

she would travel to New Zealand for the Christmas period,

to visit daughter Tia, Mark and their family. Sadly this proved

impossible. Tia and Mark did return for a period in September,

and Sue’s son Andrew ew them down to Cork, and over the

Comeragh mountains where she had walked, climbed, camped,

and orienteered many times.

Sue’s parents were Harold Johnson and Doris (nee Bewley –

whose ancestors entertained George Fox on occasions in their

home in Cumbria). Harold joined Friends after their marriage in

1936. Her siblings are David (married to Elinor), Roger (married

to Joan), Peter (married to Cathy) and Ruth (Leela) who died

some years ago.

Sue attended Rathgar Junior School before going as a boarderto Newtown School from 1955 to 1961. She completed a

Secretarial course at Alexandra College Dublin, and the staff of

Johnson Brothers where she worked as a Secretary to her father.

Through Dublin Young Friends, she met Alan, whom she would

marry in 1963. That year they went to Loughborough, where Alan

obtained his Dip Ed and Dip Phys Ed. They moved the following

year to Kenya, where Alan taught at a Friends’ School for four

years. Sue taught knitting and sewing and looked after their

growing family. Andrew and Deirdre (now Tia) were born there.

In 1968 they returned to Ireland, and Alan took up the post of P.E.and Biology teacher at Newtown School, where he continued to

teach for the next 31 years. Their other two children, Nigel and

Kevin were born in Waterford.

  Sue was actively involved at Newtown School, working

part-time in teaching, and also providing swimming, life-saving

and water safety instruction. In the late 60s and early 70s (with

Alan and others) she took senior pupils on ski holidays to

Austria.

For 25 years, Sue and Alan brought 7-12 junior

pupils to Kerry to ‘Camp’ on the shores of

Caragh Lake. She helped with camping,

climbing and in latterly, orienteering groups.

She taught Home Economics and coached

hockey. In all of these activities she was well-

loved by her pupils. She gave encouragement

and exuded positivity, which endeared her

to those she taught, forming strong bonds offriendship in both the school and wider Waterford

community as evidenced by the many who travelled to

her Memorial service in February.

Sue and Alan had a wonderful love for all of their family, and when

they moved from the City to the country in 1993, buying 40 acres

of land, it was no surprise that later Andrew (with partner Liisa)

and then Nigel (with wife Jeni) built on the same land. Kevin and

his wife Pam and their three children also set up home nearby

when they returned from Australia, two years ago. The family,

including twelve grandchildren, will miss her greatly as a friend,loving guide, advicer, councillor and inspirational person. Sue

went frequently to spend time with her daughter and family in

New Zealand, and had several Christmases enjoying the warmth

of both the country and the many friends she made while there.

Sue’s energy and wide variety of interests was amazing! She was

involved with Irish and International Quakers and served for many

years as Overseer, Elder and Clerk of Monthly Meeting. She was

a Waterford rep on YMC, and internationally on FWCC EMES,

helped organise and attend Conferences both in Europe and Africa.

With Alan she lead two Quaker Youth Pilgrimages. Sue was with

Irish Water Safety, Lifesaving, Waterford Orienteering, Waterford

Samaritans, the Music Club, Symphony Club, Toastmasters, and

more recently the Hospice movement. She was a very keen and

capable gardener. As was typical of Sue’s generosity of Spirit, she

donated her body to Trinity College for medical research. Over

420 attended a remembrance ceremony- evidence of the love in

which Sue was held.

DEATHSWith sadness we report the deaths also of John Pollard (Class of

1991) and Callum Chambers (Class of 2010). To all the families

of these loved ones, the OS Association would like to extend

deepest sympathies. If you are aware of Old Scholars who have

passed away, please inform us so as to pass on the news to

others.

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23Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

OBITUARIES

ANN JEFFARES TAYLOR (NEEBARRETT) (1932 – 2014)

Ann Taylor died on 25 May 2014 at

the age of 82.

She was sent

to Newtown School from

her home in Dublin in

1944 on the advice of her

doctor as she suffered

from asthma and it was

felt the country air would

do her good.

Not only did her health

greatly improve, but she

discovered a love of

music and singing (with huge encouragement from Eric de Courcy)

which lasted for the rest of her life.

On leaving school, she completed a secretarial course in Dublin

and worked for the Caledonian Insurance Company. She also

acted as unofcial hostess, with her sister Jill (Bailey) for the many

visiting rugby teams under the watchful guidance of her uncle who

was the Secretary of the IRFU. Having taken up a position as

secretary to the Sports Director of Timkin, Northampton, she met

and married Basil Taylor who was a well known cricketer of that

time. She settled in Northampton and had two children. She was

a prominent member of her local church and continued her love of

singing through the church choir.

Ann returned to Ireland every year and regularly paid a visit to

Newtown. She attended the Bi-Centenary celebrations in 1998 and

met up with old school friends with whom she had always stayed in

touch. All her life she aspired to follow the Quaker ethos she had

learnt in her schooldays, which was a big inuence in her life.

I report with great sadness the demise of my husband Brian Wilson

and his sister Dierdre Wilson Fons. Brian was always interested in

the progress of his friends and kept in contact with his old school

pals. After marrying in 1962 we immigrated to Canada returning

two years later to the farm in Carbury. Following a diagnosis of

Leukaemia he made little fuss of the frequent transfusions which

enabled him to carry on with most of his interests until he was

nally hospitalised and died in February 2014.

Dierdre Anne lived most of her adult life in Denmark where she

worked as a nurse until retirement, she was married to a doctor

who proceeded her, she had two sons and one daughter. Sadly

she spent several years in a care home before dying last year.

Both Brian and Dierdre always spoke of the happy times they

spent in Newtown. With Brian his time spent in Carragh Lake in

Kerry was a lasting memory. Donations can be made to Blood

Transfusion Board in his memory. Sincerely, Susan Wilson.

BRIAN WILSON & DIERDRE WILSON FONS

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24Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

CLASS OF 1974

DAVID ASTON

Living and working in Cork. He was very

disappointed not to be able to attend the 40

year reunion in September.

NICKY CAMPBELL

Nicky is married with one son and is living

in Co. Clare. He runs a clothing business.

DESSIE DAUNT

Des retired from the retail business in 2013

from Tesco and formerly with Musgrave’s

Supervalu/Centra and L & N. He is now

working along side his wife Susan in a

very successful B & B business, Samuels

Heritage B & B, on the Dunmore Road

outside Waterford City, very welcoming to

all Newtonians past and present. They have

4 children, Shannon 21 has successful

graduated in early childcare studies, Killian

19 is in rst year commerce in UCC and

twins Bevin & Martha 17 are in 5th year in

the Abbey Community College.

SARAH EARLE

Living in Enniscorthy and works part time

in Dublin.

PATTY HAUGHTON

Patty is living in Delaware USA. She is

widowed and has 5 grown children, three

sons and two daughters. Two of the

sons are married. Due to ill health, she is

unable to work but volunteers with projects

involving children. She is still active with

Quakers. She was sorry not to be able to

come to the reunion.

CAROL HODDER (NEWENHAM)

Carol is planning to undertake a visual arts

residency in Iceland. She is a fellow of the

Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, Co.

Mayo and was an invited artist to Beijing

China in 2007.

LYNN JENNINGS (BAILEY)

Lynn is still living in Belfast and teaching

primary school children at Methodist

College. She has three daughters all

married. She visits her grandchildren

in Germany frequently and will soon be

visiting another in London.

MARK KENNY

 Currently living in Carlow on a farm in

which he have a partnership which is

leased out longterm. Managing a B&B in

Ennis for the summer which he and his wife

also did last year. Eldest stepdaughter had

a daughter last year, younger one had got

her degree this year. His son left uni last

year and his daughter will be starting her

second year in Journalism in UL this year.

So 3 more years of college fees and life is

still good for Maria and Mark!

SUE LAFARGE (DYER)

Sue is married to Philippe and as he is now

retired, her life is all about golf, travelling,

animals and cars.

PATRICIA LOFTUS (CORRIGAN)

Patricia is living and farming in Tullow Co.

Carlow. She enjoyed meeting her form

mates last September.

RANDAL MCGUCKIN 

Graduated from Aberdeen University in

Engineering. He has 3 kids, one of who is

sailing around the world! He moved into

computers and is currently working with a

start-up in Dublin. For him - life is good -

and far better than the alternative!

SANDRA MCLOUGHLIN (MCKECHNIE)

Sandra is living in Cork, having lived in

Waterford and South Africa. She has just

nished a BA degree in Art History and

Philosophy at UCC. Both her children have

left Newtown. She is enjoying her new role

as a grandmother.

JUNE MCMAHON (ROSE)

June is still happily married, living in Cork.

She works part time at the Cork Examiner.

She has 4 sons, two still at college. She

and her husband are looking forward to

retirement and plan to travel the world.

HILARY MELBOURNE

Hilary is living and working in Dublin with

her long term partner.

SARAH MORLEY (DOVE)

Sarah is married and living in Dalkey. She

has two children, Jack who is working for

Digicel in Jamaica and Stephanie who is

doing a degree in Montessori teaching

and lives at home. Sarah is still a keenhorsewoman and Dave, her husband is a

photographer and keen sailor. She enjoys

the odd visit to Newtown and has great

memories of her school time there.

BrIaN O’NeIll

Brian works in his family pottery business

O’Neill pottery, based at Bunratty Castle.

LINDA QUILLE (JOHNSTON)

Linda Johnston is now living in Kilkenny

caring for her mother. Linda enjoyed livingfor almost twenty years in southern Africa

with her husband and three daughters.

KAREN SHAFFREY (GOOD)

Karen is married and living in New Zealand.

She works for Sport New Zealand. She

has three step daughters. She comes back

to Ireland as often as possible to visit her

family. She is an active member of a choir.

DENISE STANSFIELD (PASLEY)

Denise has been married for 37 years

and have two grown up children and two

grandchildren. She retired from Nursing

after 41 years mostly on children’s wards.

She hopes to visit Ireland soon.

CHARLES WHITE

Whitey is married with two grown up

children, one married. He is living in

Sandycove and working as an auctioneer

and estate agent in Rathmines. He enjoys

holidaying in Kerry and the occasional

biking holiday.

CLASS OF 1984

RALPH BINGHAM

Studied Architecture in Bolton Street from

1984 – 1989, worked in London for a year

before exploring India/Asia for 6 months,

returning to Ireland and working in Murray

O’Laoire Architects, becoming a director

in the process. Today a Director of MOLA

Architecture trying to earn a crust! Living

in Dublin and married to Hilary since 1999.

Have 3 sons Max (14) and Harry and Adam

OLD SCHOLARS NEWS

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25Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

(the terrible twins 11). Enjoying cycling, 5 aside footie and watching

rugby. Hello class of 1984, didn’t we have a great time in Newtown-

hope you are all well.ALISON CRANMER (NEE BOYD)

Married Richard in 1991 and we have two teenage girls, Zoe and

Georgia - one at Uni and the other almost there too at the time of

writing. Enjoying living and working in Norfolk,

JILL FITZGERALD (NEE CANNING)

Jill FitzGerald (Canning) Living on the beautiful Dingle Peninsula

in Kerry with husband Andrew, a dairy farmer and our 3 children,

Sarah, 20 and Lucy 17 and Mark 14 (when they’re not in college,

boarding school or travelling...the empty nest is looking dangerously

close!!) - running my own small online craft business www.

caketoppers.ie, playing lots of tennis, dabbling in my vegetable

garden, making plenty of homemade cider from the orchard and

 just started letting out holiday accommodation in a property on the

farm......life is good!

SOPHIE CANTILLON

Tragically deceased. After a short illness in Gothenburg where she

had just completed her PhD, Sophie died in December 2010. She

is remembered and missed by us all as a vivacious, sociable and

smart girl who loved life and was a great friend. She was passionate

about cycling, photography and outdoor life and always fun to be

with. After a very successful stint in PR in the UK, Sophie spent

a number of years completing an MBA in Oslo and her PhD in

Gothenburg where she was incredibly happy – loving Scandinavian

life so suited to all her passions. R.I.P.

ALAN COAD

B.Tech Ed in Limerick University followed by a Post grad year in

TCD. Since then, many adventures over 20 years building & running

technology businesses all over the globe, most recently with Pivotal.

As always, passions include Sailing, Fly-shing and shooting, albeit

more internationally than school days. Married to Anna & living in

Parsons Green, London with Toby (12)

CLODAGH NICHOLSON (NEE COAD)

Married Darren Nicholson, 4 children aged 9,14, 20 & 22 & living

near Clonakilty, West Cork. Working full time Teaching 3rd to 6th

class in Kilgarriffe NS Clonakilty, Co.Cork and acting principal at

present. Coach U12 girls hockey in Bandon HC and captain of Clon/

Ross Girls Brigade. Hobbies: photograph, gardening, swimming,

skiing & sailing whenever time permits!!

LUKE CROSBIE

After a Law degree and Masters in Finance (extending studenthood

as long as possible), worked in private equity in Ireland, UK and EU

for 12 years, then managing a family investment company, BHR.

Now mostly Chairman of a pharmaceutical company and commuting

from Dublin Airport. Still married to Niamh, has 3 daughters Emily

(11) and twins of 7, and living in Kildare.

ED CROTTY

Engineering degree TCD, also studied an MBA 1994, worked in

London until 1997, moved back home, married Susan and have

4 kids - Patrick (12); Hugh (10); Louise (8) and Sam (6). Set up

my own homecare company in 2014 (providing Carers for older

people in their own homes, serving South Dublin), called Heritage

Homecare. Have been competing in triathlons since 2004, still

enjoying it ! Also support the Munster Rugby Team, through thick

and thin.

PAUL DUFFIN

Moved back to Ireland in 2011 with Family now 4 kids Emily 15

Patrick and Shona 10 and Kerry 7 and reside in Carlow. Work

between Dubai and Carlow. Self employed still with The Children’s

Medical Centre Dubai and REL Cooling Services Ltd Carlow and a

few other bits and bobs. Walking Mondo my German Shepherd 10k

a day keeps me half t and still race a few racehorses with friends.

Am now on Twitter at @Dufn77Paul.

LIZ DUFFY

A (very short!) time at Trinity College followed by a haphazard but

nonetheless enjoyable career path ! Enjoy horse riding - horse

racing - interior design – gardening. Partner Robert for past 15

years (one stepdaughter Emma 21 years) and apart from that Sarah

Naomi & Paul have provided plenty of lovely nieces and nephews to

keep me busy!

ALISON FANAGAN (nee Farrell)

BCL in UCD, Blackhall Place Law Society solicitors course and

apprenticeship, LL.M in Trinity Hall College, Cambridge. Working

with A & L Goodbody solicitors since November 1990, specializing

in litigation, and environmental and planning law. Became a

consultant in 2008 so work 4 days a week, at least in theory! Joined

Milltown Golf Club 1995 and play reasonably regularly. Married Jody

Fanagan 24 September 1994 and celebrated 20 year anniversary

September 2014 in Italy! 3 boys Hugo (16); Harry (14); Stephen (12)

JOHN FAULL

Attended UCG and got a B.SC in Marine Biology, spent a year in

Carna, Co. Galway (UCG’s Shellsh Research Lab) studying for a

diploma in aquaculture. Spent a year working in London in various

 jobs earning some money and getting over the experience of living

in the isolation of Connemara for a year. Spent about 5 years

working for an environmental consultancy company, in Galway,

which involved going to sea.

GleNN O’NeIll

Did a degree in Theology at Queens Belfast. When last in

touch was working for a Community Church in Navan. www.

calvarycommunitychurch.info Married to Gabriella, one daughter

Tara, no further update.

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26Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

OLD SCHOLARS NEWS

aIleeN O’BeIrNe

BA from UCG in 1989, LLB from UCG

in 1992, qualied as a solicitor in 1995.

Moved to Brussels with husband Brendan,

worked in various jobs, and joined the

European Commission in 2001. Married

mum of 2 daughters.

DaVID O’BrIeN

Degree in Production Engineering (Carlow

Regional Technical College), then 4 years

working with Yazaki (in Japan) before

emigrating to Australia where I’ve been

since. All manner of unspectacular jobs

in IT and nance project areas. Hobbies

include Skydiving (3000 jumps) Kite-boarding, Mountain biking. Married my wife

in 2014 after an extended courtship!

GORMLAITH ORMOND

Having qualied as a PE teacher in

Stranmillis, then went on to train as a

Special Needs Assistant and has been

working in Newpark School (Dublin)

leading the SNA for 2nd year, in addition to

coaching hockey. Married to Louis and has

two children Louis (17) and Celeste (15).

TIA WOOLER (DEIRDRE PIM)

Married to Mark, living in Warkworth, NZ,

3 children – Cullen, Bree & Carrie. Trained

as a Montessori teacher in Dublin but all

her working life based in NZ where she

now runs her own school. They live an hour

north of Auckland in an area becoming

increasingly popular for its vineyards, long

white sandy beaches, arts and good eating!

They have a 3 acre property with a passion

for growing veg, fruit, ducks and hens.

ALISTAIR PIM

Auctioneering (horses, not houses!) and

working the stud farm in Mountmellick.

Married to Gillian with 3 children.

GABRIELLE SHERIDAN

After degrees in social science, Business

Education & Special Education, spent a

number of years teaching and travelling.

Now working for the family business in

Dublin. Married to Gerry have 3 kids -Penny age 12, Willow age 10, Gerry age 7,

2 dogs, 1 cat and 2 gold sh.

JULIAN TALBOT BRADY

Architecture (UCD) as a career until 1999

(now a hobby) and completed an MBA

at Craneld in the UK. Now run my own

business consultancy in London. Married to

Louise. Two daughters and son - Tuscany

Gaia and Noah.

ANDREW WALKER (ALIAS CHUCK!)

TCD (History & Hockey), Kings Inns and

Barrister since 1992. Chair of Three Rock

Hockey club after far too many years of

coaching! Triathlons dominate the summer

months. Married Meriel (Bailey) 1995 and 3

boys James, Ben and Sam.

SARAH BEAN (NEE HILL)

Marketing degree from College of

Marketing & Design, & has spent the

last 26 yrs in consumer goods marketing

based in Dublin, the last 18 as general

manager with Coty Ireland. Married to Tom,

3 children (15, 10 & 10 – carrying on the

Twin tradition!). Passions include hockey

(coaching not playing), yoga, dabbling in

piano, skiing, diving (only in warm waters!)

and keeping up my French.

BEN JOHNSON

Left Newtown straight into cheesemaking,

set up a honey co-op in the Burren farming

200 beehives. Set up cheese factories in

Sweden for the Hari Krishna movement,

Ukraine for the Chernobyl affected areas

and South Africa the next step. Currently

run a boat building school: www.bensboats.

com and run guitar making classes www.

burrenlutherie.com. Free time is taken up

with the preaching work with Jehovah’s

Witnesses knocking on peoples doors andannoying them (his words not mine!)

SALLY COLE (NEE KINGSTON)

Nurse training and after 3 years traveling

Asia, NZ & Australia, nursed in Blackrock

and now living in Naas with Alan and 2

daughters Sasha and Sophia.

ROISIN LENNON (NEE KLANN)

General nurse training in Dublin and then

Perth in Scotland to do midwifery. Now

a midwife in Sligo General and currently

doing masters in advanced midwifery

practice. Great interest in aromatherapy,

spent 2 years getting a diploma in it as well

as reexology. Married Tom 1993. 2 kids,

Eoin (aeronautical engineering in Glasgow)

and Emer (doing the Leaving!).

GILLIAN LAZENBY (Nee Milne)

Agricultural College in Hampshire doing

a one-year Farm Secretarial Course and

have been working in this ‘eld’ ever

since! Live in Dorset, with husband Rob &

daughter Lucy (21) working on a 2200 acre

arable/dairy farm. Passionate about horse-

riding, especially with my daughter.

IAN LAZENBY

Gurteen Agricultural College and have

been farming ever since! Married to

Nicolette van der Wel and also involved in

the family ‘nursery’ business.

MIRANDA MARTIN

After many years working with horses,

teaching riding and involved in racing,

I moved to London where I now live

having started my own catering business!

Fanatical skier having worked three season

in the Alps, still go racing as much as

possible and have a love of gardening.

DAVID MEADE

Studied civil engineering in UCG and after

a stint in London and Scotland, worked as

engineer in the West of Ireland on the main

Sligo-Moscow highway! Heavily involved

in coaching hockey in Galway. Married to

Mary and has a son Conor (11).

ROBERT MILNE

Farming in Co. Wexford. Married, divorced

& happily in a new partnership! Three

children Bill, Aoife and John.

JAMES MOLLOY

Emigrated to Australia in 1995. Currently

working in the construction industry in

Queensland. Married to Belinda & father of

3 boys, Riley, Flynn and Cameron.

KEITH MURPHY

Agricultural Science, UCD, qualied as

Chartered Accountant with PWC and with

them in Warsaw. Joined Aventis Pharma

as CFO Poland/Baltic states, moved

to Strasbourg as Head of Corporate

Finance, now back in Warsaw! Married to

Agnieszka and 3 kids, Adam (15), Ola (13)

and Camilla (9).

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27Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

OLD SCHOLARS NEWS

Class of 1994SUZIE SHORTEN

Enjoying a busy life in Dublin with Dylan 6, Camille 2 and partner. In

2010 set up event management company and am currently looking

forward to more lecturing in event management in College.

MARK DEEVY

Working in the family business, healthy and happy 2 kids Matthew 6

Emily 2, life is good.

aura-lee (O’HallOraN) Casey

 Married to Jason with 4 children, studying for a bsc (hons) in

applied health care at Waterford Institute of Technology.

CULLEN ALLEN

I’m living across the eld from Ballymaloe with my wife Bree and 3

kids and I’m still running Cully and Sully which is ying.

rOss O’sHea 

Living in Dunmore East and married to Hazel. Busy rearing two kids

 – Tadhg (4) and Leah (2) with one on the way. Works as a ‘Town

Planner’ in Dublin, Waterford and now Kilkenny County Council

since qualifying with a Masters from UCD. Plays golf and soccer

and enjoys travel as much as possible.

JENNIFER (STEELE) IRVINE

Married to Stephen, 4 daughters, Lily 9, Jasmine 7, Rose 6 and

Violet 1. Award winning Entrepreneur and best-selling author.

GRAHAM HANNAN

Currently residing in Louisville, Kentucky USA. I live with my wife

Kim, daughter McKayla and son Chase. I am a musician for my

band HaNNan with our fth album for release in August, as well as

the owner/producer of Graphite Studios in Louisville.

AEDÍN BOISSEL

Living in Dublin. Presently working in recruitment and recently

completed writing her second novel.

ALI TYNDALE ( NEE EGAN-LANGLEY )

Living in Bristol. A Drama therapist doing some photography onthe side at Alexandra Tyndale Photography.

ISOBEL BAILEY-BAUDU, In France for 17 years with husband,

Yann and daughters, Zoé & Sasha, aged 9 and 6. Teaching

English and Music in Junior High School in Southern Brittany and

English at the Faculty of Law in UBS, Vannes. Training to become

an examiner with Cambridge English Language Assessment.

Directs and organises classical festival, Les Musicales de Redon.

STUART MUSGRAVE 

Married to Gemma Hayes with one son Max who is 17 months.

Lives in London and works for Marsh & McLennan. Playing a bit ofgolf and growing a beard in between changing nappies.

IVAN VARIAN

Owns and runs food production company, The Dalkey Food Co,

whilst living in it’s namesake.Writes and speaks on the science and

providence of food and still Djs quite a bit, all under watchful eye of

daughters Lucienne (6) and Anna (3).

NINA CASEY nee Faeste - married to Liam with 3 children (Alex 7,

Sophie 5 and Ruby Mae (3). Back in Dublin almost a year, after 2

sun lled years in Malta.

DERMOT CONNER 

Living in Houston, TX with wife Laura, mother in law Chris, two

rather large small children (Bella and Brendan, 6 and 4 respectively)

and a herd of animals. Enterprise content manager, which has the

primary advantage of being indoor work with no heavy lifting.

Class of 2004BRIAN KENNEDY

Following BA and MSc moved to London where I have been for

nearly six years now, working in fund management. Stayed in

touch with Newtown lads by living together in the infamous Dundela

through college and more recently via Whatsapp!

2015

CW Sports Academy Skills and knowledge

for a life in Sport Week 3 - Age 13 - 18 yrs

Cub Camp4 - 6 yrs

Amazing new experiences

in a nurturing environment

3 weeks in July - 10am - 4pm

Early drop-off and late pick up service.See our website for more details

www.campwaterford.com

www.campwaterford.com€ 135 per child for 1 week

€ 245 per child for 2 weeks 

€ 350 per child for 3 weeks

 

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28Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

JESSICA STEVENSON (NEE GOTTO)

I have recently married in Cork to a lovely Scotsman Andrew

Stevenson. I am living on a farm near a town named St. Andrews

in Scotland. I am braving the new and setting up a business of my

own bringing convenient tasty healthy fast food to the students of

St. Andrews university and to the Edinburgh farmers markets.

INEZ VON RANDOW

After leaving Newtown with tears in my eyes I studied marketing

and communication in my hometown Düsseldorf, enjoying

a delightful partylife with my old friends. I now live in Berlin,

organising international congresses.

SOPHIE VON SAHR

It took me almost a year to get over Newtown actually, as I missedit a lot! After leaving, I started my studies in Logistics in Hamburg.

That’s actually what I’m also doing now, I’m involved in Chartering

vessels all around the world for the Heavy Lift Industry / Project

cargos. During the weekend I just love to hang around beside the

beach, meeting friends and enjoying a bit of Partylife! Still think

that Newtown was one of the best time in my life so far!

LAURA CASSIN

Living and working in Waterford and still love playing hockey! Do

we have to write about whether we’re married? I’m not and I doubt

things will change by the time this goes to print!

STEPHEN PEIRCE

Working in Dublin as a Case Manager for Eneclann, tracing heirs

and researching family histories. At least until his craft brewery

takes off...!

JENNY SCOTSON

Studied classical music in Cork School of Music, followed by a

2-year MPhil in Music & Media Tech in Trinity College. Having

started out my career doing internship at EMI London. I now live in

Dublin, and work in Universal Music Ireland as Digital & BusinessDevelopment Co-ordinator - alongside Caroline Torrie, former

dorm mate of 3 years at Newtown).

CAROLINE TORRIE

Having completed a Masters in Public Relations in DIT, Caroline

is in her seventh year of working with Universal Music in the artist

publicity department. Lves in Dublin with her boyfriend and spends

her free time in search of the perfect cup of coffee!

BRIAN DAGG

Brian is a Solicitor living and working in Dublin. He plays

tennis and soccer regularly, enjoys his car.

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN

Ryan originates from the Southern most country in Africa,

emigrating at 14 to the Déise. As a youth Ryan was most

happy to be on the water, in a dingy, kayak or wetsuit.

Leaving Ireland he studied architecture in Dundee, the

pursuit of which led him to live in Sydney and Mumbai

before nally arriving in London to attain his prof quals.

Keen cyclist, likes climbing and has started framing things.

SHONA KEATING

Live in Dublin, studied Social Care, Addiction counsellingin Trinity and Crisis Pregnancy counselling. I work for

the HSE - I spent 7 years working with newly homeless

teenagers, but now work in Child & Adolescent psychiatry

(mental health) Married since 2013 to Kevin Halpin.

HELGA BRIAN (NEE GILBERT)

Helga studied montessori teaching and is now working in

a preschool in Crosshaven, Cork. She married to Jason

Bryan and they have three children.

COSIMO VON DUNGERN

Cosimo is currently working for Berenberg Bank in

Hamburg and London where he is a relationship manager

for corporate banking clients. He is married and lives with

his wife Antonia in Hamburg.

OLD SCHOLARS NEWS

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29Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

GIllIaN O’sHea

After studying Psychology at UCD, I went and worked in Abu

Dhabi for a few years. It was an amazing experience and I got to

travel to lots of amazing places. I then moved to London to do a

post-grad in Primary teaching and 5 years later I am still loving

life in London. Did some travelling last year and now working as

a Special Educational Needs Coordinator in a primary school in

London. I am hoping to pursue a Doctorate in Educational and

Child Psychology in the very near future.

LEILA VISSER (NEE HEGARTY)

After studying childcare for 2 years. I am now based in Brisbane

Australia and work in the childcare industry for one of the major

childcare centres. I am married to an Australian called Sean and

we have 2 children together.

KELLY POWER

Took some time off after school to travel and went between

Australia & the UK for 7 years, during that time getting my degree

in Leisure Management. Back home in Waterford, managing my

parents hotel with them. Still love to travel and try to get back to

Australia every year.

TAIF DELAMIE

Enjoying life in Dubai working for a Sports Medicine company as

Head of Strength and Conditioning. Still playing rugby and looking

to get a few more international caps this year. Try and get back toIreland as much as possible and have great memories of being a

boarder in Newtown School

JAMIE EVANS

i’m working as head of operations at a hedge fund called 36 South

Capital Advisors Llp in london. Living in brixton, single. Studied

International Business and Spanish in DIT and spent 2 years living

in Argentina. That sums up my last 10 years.

ROSE PAGET

Studied English and Music in UCD followed by a 3 year hiatus in

retail after which I returned to UCD to complete my PGDE (H-Dip).In a twist of fate, the poor economy and shortage of teaching jobs

meant that I landed a job in an advertising agency in Dublin. Still

there 2 years later and loving it. I also worked part-time in the

National Concert Hall for 6 years.

KATE MURRAN

Studied English in Dublin swiftly followed by a relocation to Cork

to study medicine. Currently living and working in New Zealand.

Plan to t in some more travels before committing to adultdom. I

proud suppliers

uni orms to

wtown chool

OLD SCHOLARS NEWS

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30Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

still have great friends from Newtown which

I feel very lucky to have. I gave up a hockey

career (?) after nishing school but keep

myself occupied with running.

CONOR DOYLE

Studied Construction Economics and

Management in university after Newtown.

Got a Construction Project Management job

despite the economy and worked in that role

for 4 years. Stayed living in Waterford, met

Lauren and we decided to try something

new and we ended up in Vancouver where

we have been for the last 3 years.

GREG DEACON

Structural Engineering in D.I.T. and

qualied in 2009 and moved to Vancouver

in Canada in June 2010. I am now a project

manager for a utilities company specialising

in Trenchless technologies. Marrying my

girlfriend of almost 10 years in December.

ROBERT ARGENT

Studied in UCD and LSE. Now works as

a consultant in London after some time

playing semi-pro rugby in Dubai.

PETER HYLAND

Architect with a diverse background. After

studying architecture at Dundee university

and he established an online relocation

startup and also worked in Marketing at

Trinity College before returning to his

passion for building. Working in London.

SORCHA SCHNITTGER

I studied engineering in Galway before

moving to the UK. Based in Glasgow

working in R&D for electricity networks.

PHILIP GALLOWAY

Living in Dublin having spent six years

working abroad in London and Singapore.

He works in marketing and enjoys cycling

and travelling when he can get away.

PEN SAUGNIER (NEE PICKERSGILL)

I am married to a French man and have a

lovely little boy-Léon. Studied Japanese and

translation in DCU but wasn’t for me and I

have just qualied as a nutritional therapist,

planning to open my own business.

JULIA ALVENSLEBEN

(2005 Gap Year in Mexico, Tulancingo)

2006-2011 Magister on International

Development in Vienna. 2011-2014 Working

as Coordinator at the German Foundation

for Integration in Berlin. In 2015 I moved to

Nairobi, Kenya with my boyfriend.

BARRA COLLINS

I live in a little at in Brockley, London, with

my partner Evelyn and our cat Mimi. I spent

three years studying theatre at Goldsmiths

(University of London) and Trinity College

Dublin. In 2012 I formed a theatre company,

LAStheatre - “las” from the Irish to ignite.

Over the last 3 years our work has been

described as ‘powerful’ (The Scotsman),

‘fascinating’ (BBC).

OLD SCHOLARS NEWS

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31Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

Newtown Old Scholars Association is updating members

addresses and contact details. We are also trying to double

check if you are receiving your Newtown Review every year

and if you would like to change to our online facility for the

review. With postage charges going up every year we are

nding it more expensive to post so we have set up the

Newtown Review on line. If you send us a current email

address we can send you the link every year, you can also

answer the questions below:

1 Did you receive your Newtown Review this year?

2 Would you prefer to receive it on line?3 Have any of your details changed?

4 Can you also conrm your postal and email please.

Email us the answers to these questions at nswoldscholars@

gmail.com or send a letter to Oriel Woodbyrne, Cluain

Laighean, Ballyroe, Athy, Co. Kildare . Tel. 087-6371080

Remember also - there are hundreds, if not thousands of Old

Scholars now on Facebook. Why not check it out and join - it’s a

great way of staying in touch, and catch up with news!

 

Stay in contactBob honoured in Cork 

DeCourcy & NMFOSA Fund

Treasurer’s repOrT pupIls’ FuND:  €200 was given

to the pupils’ fund towards the annual Short Story and Photo

Competition, last year.

ERIC DECOURCY FUND: €790 music

burtsary was awarded to Daniel Morris for

his outstanding music achievements. Ourcongratulations to him.

The fund is currently worth € 48,655.00.

Contributions to the fund are welcome

however, and can be made to OSA

Treasurer; Peter Pearce, C/O Inglewood,

Carrigmore, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow. Tel.

087 2760868 e-mail: ppkpearce@gmail.

com

INVESTMENTS:  The portfolio continues to

perform well and is valued at € 90,658.99 as

of 31st. December 2014.

- On behalf of the cottee: Peter Pearce,

Treasurer

OLD SCHOLARS NEWS

Old Foyonian Bob Burns turned 80

this year, while he and his wife Betty

also celebrated their 50th wedding

anniversary.

Last year Bob was honoured with a civil

reception by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr

Catherine Clancy, in recognition of his

work over the years with a host of voluntary organisations in

Cork as well as years of work on the Newtown Mountmellick

and Foy Old Scholars Association.

Bob has been tireless in his commitment to them all, and

organises the Summer Bishop Foy Barbeque get-together,

each year. The Old Scholars Committee wish him a belated

happy birthday and congratulations to him and Betty on their

Golden Wedding Anniversary.

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32Newtown Review 2015 - NMFOSA Section

With thanks also for support:

 Jonathan FletcherKilmeaden, Co. Waterford

HOUSE MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS

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 Tel: (01) 493 4733email: [email protected] 

ADVERTISE IN THE NEWTOWN REVIEW

Should you have a business you would like to

advertise, or would otherwise like to support

the production of the Newtown Review, just

contact your class rep or any member of the Old

Scholars Committee for further information.

CELEBRATING 80 YEARS IN BUSINESS

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