‘Operation Morning Star’ brightens up Ballyphehane

Past pupils, staff, local businesses and friends of a Ballyphehane school joined forces last week to give it a huge lift by painting the roadside walls and railings which complemented a recent build on the campus.

Scoil Réalt na Maidine, Morning Star National School on Connolly Road was the scene for this big community effort where friends of the school helped to revitalise the exterior in a socially-distanced and well-planned operation.

A new state-of-the-art extension was recently added to this well-known school in the heart of Ballyphehane, but that project did not extend to other parts of the school property which were also in need of an uplift.

It was decided to assemble a crew together to do some work on a voluntary basis and make sure that the impact of the frontage of the school could be maximised.

“With the help of Cork Builders Providers, Pat McDonnell Paints and the Harp Bar, the paint and equipment were secured and we got fantastic help from volunteers,” explained local Independent councillor Mick Finn who helped organise and undertake the programme of work.

“Thanks to Danny Murphy, Ber Healy and Cork Builders Providers for their generosity; to Ciara Buckley, Bernadette, Dave and Pat McDonnell Paints for their great support; and the McLoughlin Family who run the Harp Bar.

“Their collective interest and commitment helped to make this possible.”

Cllr Finn also paid tribute to the Morning Star past pupils who stepped up the mark.

“Cian and Corey Buckley, Craig Duggan, Scott Callanan, Kyeron Varian gave their time up along with Conor McLoughlin, Stephen Cahill who all helped out with Donal the principal, Carol the secretary and Padraig, Liz, Lisa and Mandy from the staff.”

School principal Donal Deasy added: “The community spirit in Ballyphehane never ceases to amaze me.

“We are eternally grateful to the volunteers, the sponsors and especially to Cllr Mick Finn for organising the painting of the perimeter walls.

“We are enormously proud of our new school building but we knew that the old shabby perimeter walls would detract from the overall look of the school so we were delighted when Mick announced that he would be organising the repainting project,” he added.

“A big thank you also to Carambola, who sponsored the refreshments for the volunteers.

“We are so grateful and we now look forward to next school year when we hope to welcome visitors to our official opening ceremony.

“The date of the opening ceremony will be announced on our Facebook page.”

Another day of painting is planned to complete work on the extensive school boundaries.