The School Council members have considered many charity requests for fundraising this year. We have now chosen:
- Newry Cathedral Restoration Fund
- Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust ( KBRT) and
- Newry Hospice
will receive donations at the end of the school year once we have completed our fundraising activities each month.
Newry Cathedral Restoration Fund
The school council met with Canon Brown and he explained that the Cathedral will be 200 years old in another 2 years. It needs major improvement works undertaken and whilst an application has been made by the Parish to the National Lottery Fund, that will only pay some of the costs and the Parish needs to raise some also. The full cost will be about £2000000. Canon Brown showed the pupils around our beautiful church and showed us the damage being caused by water getting into it through the walls and roof. The precious mosaic tiles are popping off the walls and holes are appearing with the walls seeming to crumble. He also showed us a recording of how part of the cathedral flooded last year and showed some of the restoration work that has already taken place. He explained that the organ needs to be refurbished too which will be a very expensive job. This was of interest to some of our pupils who sing in the Children's Cathedral Choir at mass each Sunday. Having listened carefully to Canon Brown and having seen all that he had to show us, we agreed that we want to play our part in ensuring that Newry Cathedral remains well cared for into its next centenary so that families can continue to attend mass there and that the pupils in Newry can continue to receive their sacraments in this very special church in our town, just as we have done.
Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust ( KBRT)
Mr Bell, came to school and told us that he used to teach in The Abbey, before we became St Clare's Abbey. He also told us the very sad story of how his son Kevin had died in America and how KBRT had been created as a result of that. He explained what 'repatriation' meant and how much it means to very sad families to have KBRT help them at a tragic time in their lives; when they need help in taking the remains of their loved one home to Ireland for their funeral. We thought that this was so sad and so great at the same time. Mr Bell explained that the charity had just helped its 2000th family. We all agreed that we want to raise funds for KBRT this year.
Newry Hospice
Newry Hospice is one of our Courtenay Hill neighbours. Every year the school council chooses it as one of its charities and this year we will do the same. These are our big plans for charities this year, so hopefully we will raise lots of money with your help.
Thank you, The school Council 2024/25
