Thurles Information

Shane Dempsey, (Academic Coordinator, St. Patrick’s College, Thurles) Reports;

The well-known Catholic commentator and Chairperson of the Catholic Schools Partnership, Rev. Michael Drumm, is due to address an audience in St. Patrick’s College on Friday, 19th April.

Rev. Drumm, a regular contributor to RTÉ’s Late Late Show, will be the keynote speaker at a one-day symposium entitled “The Ethics of Religious Education.”

The place of religious education in Irish society is currently being re-evaluated and its once privileged place in the education system is being called into question. This one-day symposium seeks to explore both the current situation and the possibility of alternative approaches to religious education from a variety of perspectives, including: religious education, religious studies, philosophy, ethics, theology and education as well as the broader humanities and social sciences.

The event is being organised by Thurles native, Dr. Mary Shanahan, who lectures as part of the College’s Religious Studies Department. Speaking regarding this event, Dr. Shanahan commented that “The symposium presents an excellent opportunity for those who are interested in engaging in dialogue about the role of religious education in Irish society. We have been incredibly lucky to secure Rev. Drumm as our keynote speaker. He is a noted academic and well-known public figure who will be delivering what will undoubtedly be an engaging and thought-provoking paper. In addition, we are also very pleased to be collaborating with the Irish Centre for Religious Education on this project.”

College President, Fr. Tom Fogarty said that “As a College of Education with a vibrant Religious Studies department, this symposium affords us a very welcome opportunity to invite academics and the public at large to the College to share in what promises to be a very enlightening and informative occasion.”

The fee to attend Rev. Drumm’s keynote address, which will commence at 9.30am, is €7 (waged) /€5 (unwaged). For those who would like to attend for the full day the fee is €30 (waged) /€20 (unwaged).

Booking enquiries should be directed to Dr. Mary Shanahan, St. Patrick’s College, Thurles, either by email (mshanahan@stpats.ie) or by telephone (0504-21201).

Additional information can be found by visiting the College website, www.stpats.ie.

The Bank of Ireland, in collaboration with the Gathering Ireland 2013 and the Department of Education and Skills, have given 2nd Level Transition year students an opportunity to “Put their town on the map.”

Raising the banner, “Res Non Verba,” (Loosely translated “Deeds rather than words.”) four young ladies, all Transition Year students from the Ursuline Secondary School here in Thurles, have taken the lead, to positively promote Thurles as a definite and alternative tourist destination.

Public Representatives and Development Organisation members please observe video, learn and take special note. This is a story of how four young ladies, Rebecca Chute (Thurles), Mary Claire Fitzgerald (Golden), Treise Gleeson (Urlingford) and Tanya Moore (Thurles), sold Thurles to the world in just less than three minutes.

Recently, these four young ladies have qualified for the National Finals of ‘The Gathering Transition Year (TY) Film Competition.’

This competition required these four students to make a film, of strictly three minutes duration, to promote their town, Thurles, as a venue for “The Gathering.” As our readers are aware, communities throughout Ireland are showcasing and sharing the very best of Irish culture, tradition, business, sport, fighting spirit and the uniquely Irish sense of fun. Over 70 million people worldwide claim Irish ancestry. The Gathering Ireland 2013 provides the perfect excuse to reach out to those who have moved away, their relatives, friends and descendants, and invite them home. The Gathering is the people’s party and kicked off in spectacular style for the first time on New Year’s Eve 2012.

These four TY students had previously attended a workshop under the Young Irish Film Makers initiative and with this knowledge gleaned now met under the watchful eye of TY and  Ursuline school co-ordinator Miss Anette Flanagan, to write a script and during just one day’s filming, visited some of the town’s renowned food producers, an arts centre, sport facility and visitor attraction, such as Thurles Co-Op Creamery (Food Producer), The Source Theatre (Arts), Semple Stadium (Thurles European town of Sport) and St Mary’s Famine Museum (Heritage & Culture).

Their finished work has now been selected from a host of similar projects at the Regional Finals of the competition, held in Kilkenny, just last week, where their  film was presented for the scrutiny of an elite judging panel. These young ladies also were required to give a two minute verbal presentation of their work, prior to the viewing of their film. With the standard very high and despite being pitted against “traditional” tourist destinations such as Kilkenny and Waterford, theirs was selected as the Regional winner.

For the National Final, these Tipperary girls will now challenge three other film and presentation projects, submitted by schools from Clonakilty, Dún Laoghaire and Donegal Town.

On Thursday next they will present their project in The House of Lords, Bank of Ireland, Dublin. Some 50% of the final result will depend on the judges’ decision with the other 50% based on the number of votes received on their film.

If you truly love your home town of Thurles, please give them the support they rightly deserve and here is how to help.

To vote & support the super effort by these girls – Click HERE – watch film No 2 & simply ‘LIKE‘ on YouTube. (Note: You will need a YouTube/Gmail account to vote, but that only takes about 2 minutes to set up).

Note: Voting closes this coming Thursday at 1.00pm & these ladies really do need your votes, so exercise your mouse.

Nice one girls & BO, well done and thanks for your real leadership.