A Fond Farewell

The beautifully decorated School Hall provided the perfect setting for the fitting finale to the Graduating Class of 2023’s time at St. Conleth’s.  Mr. ODulaing and Ms. Hopkins presided over a poignant celebration which mixed prayers, music, words of wit and wisdom and a considerable amount of style.  Some of the graduates have been at the school since Junior Infants while others have joined along the way, but all involved seemed full of bittersweet emotions at leaving a place which for them had very much become a second home.  Mr. Gallagher’s opening liturgy once again reminded us all of the ethos which helps make St. Conleth’s such a welcoming place and the speeches and awards which followed both recalled the good times of the past and the promising deeds of the future.  Of course, this being St. Conleth’s, where we are never at a loss for words, the musical challenge was more than met on the rhetorical front by Captain Caoimhe Moore, Vice Captains James Clancy and Timea Kovacs,  Principal Donal ODulaing and PPU representative Ronan O’Kelly. All the speeches captured perfectly the nostalgic nature of the evening and James and Leo’s carefully composed slideshow provided the perfect backdrop for their musings.  Of course, awards were also on the agenda and you can see all our winners and their prizes in a later article. 

Music has long been at the heart of everything we do at St. Conleth’s, including our graduation ceremony.  In both the religious ceremony and the awards and speeches event that followed, with maestros Ms. McGuinness and Mr. O’Neill pulling the strings, music was the perfect accompaniment for the prayers, thoughts and memories, from Tom’s delicate opening piano piece through Saoirse and Siobhan’s instrumental duet ‘La Fille aux Cheveux de lin’;  Sam’s plaintive piano piece ‘Exit Music for a Film’; Charlotte and Saoirse’s piano and sax-powered ‘Cry me a River’; the Music Class’s ensemble ‘Viva La Vida’ (Alex, Charlotte, Oleg, Jennifer, Leo, Luke and Tanisha); an eye-opening and roof-raising rendition of ‘It’s Raining Men’ by Adelaide and Alex; and last, but certainly not least, two crowd favourites by the class’s resident rock stars, Finn and Ollie (backed by Thomas and Daniel) set everybody’s pants on fire. The evening and the music culminated in the rousing whole-class rendition of ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’.  And then it was outside for the graduation class photo on the immortal steps of No. 28 Clyde Road and on to a classy dinner for students and teachers and surely some classier activities afterwards.  For specifics of those nocturnal celebrations you must, carefully, check social media, but for pics and video of the ceremony look above and below!

by Charles Latvis