Christmas concert sees Limerick school reach magic figure

THE MAGIC of Christmas was alive and well in Knockainey last Thursday and Friday night when local children performed a variety concert of song and dance to an audience of almost 500 people.

Over 250 people packed into Knockainey Community Centre on Thursday night while a further 210 followed in their footsteps on Friday night for the fundraising concerts.

“Every child in the school was on stage,” explained John Macnamara, chairperson of the fundraising committee.

“Junior and senior infants performed the Nativity, first and second class performed a variety of song and dance, third and fourth class performed Cinderella while fifth and sixth class performed Mary Poppins.”

Also on the Thursday night, the audience were treated to a performance by Aoife Barron and her troupe of dancers.

The concerts were the final events in the fundraising project which was set up to raise €90,000 for the refurbishment of the local primary school.

Over the past two years, in the region of 12 events have taken place to raise funds for the school project. “These concerts raised very close to €6,000,” said Mr Macnamara.

“We have now raised a total of €90,000 to date which includes the money from the concerts,” he added.

As part of the revamp at the school - which caters for 120 pupils- three new rooms were built and the existing building was redeveloped as well.

“We put in a new room and a resource room into the existing building. So now we have four mainstream rooms and a resource room.”

Special thanks were conveyed to the parishioners of Knockainey for their support of the events and the fundraising committee for their hard work.

“We have met every Monday night over the last two years except for during the summer months,” said Mr Macnamara.

“The committee have been outstanding and a real pleasure to work with,” he added.