PICS: Cork city centre treated to school flashmob raising hearts and funds 

A joyous flashmob occurred on Tuesday morning, raising hearts, raising funds, and raising awareness, as over 200 pupils from Cork Educate Together National School cut loose in Cork city centre.

It was just after 11.30am when they came streaming around the corner from Maylor Street, ribbons of yellow, red, orange, blue and green trailing behind them, dancing to the beat of Kenny Loggins’ 1984 Footloose, a song at least three decades older than most of them.

The students of Cork Educate Together NS on Grattan Street all gathered to sing and dance at the top of Winthrop Street, raising awareness of the Cork charity My Canine Companion and having a great time while they were at it.

Everyone in the school had a starring role in the flashmob but if there was a scene to be stolen, it was probably robbed by the youngest children, who all ran out for the very end to sing the “Everybody cut, everybody cut footloose” bit, to cheers from everyone in the audience.

Luke Meehan (12) is a sixth class student in Cork Educate Together, and he helped to collect money for the fundraiser.

“I’m pretty excited about raising money for the charity, but we won’t get to see the results of it, as we’re going into first year now, so I’m a bit disappointed about that,” he said.

Having said that, he predicted that this year’s sixth class would be able to visit their old school and see the results of their work.

Asha Kearney O’Toole, who is also 12 and from sixth class, said she was delighted with the flashmob.

“I thought it would be a bit embarrassing, but it wasn’t really, it was fun,” she said.

Annie O’Brien (12) thought the event had gone really well, and her classmate Jack Flanagan said it had been an amazing experience. Their friend Finn O’Donoghue said that while a lot of money had been donated by relatives of the students, much had been donated by passersby too.

Teachers Katie Hickson and Elizabeth Kenny said they has both been delighted to take part in the flashmob, and they thanked colleague Lia Doolin for co-ordinating the fundraising.

“The flashmob was a roaring success.
"We were all a little bit nervous about bringing the whole school out onto Patrick’s Street, but it was absolutely fantastic, and we were so delighted that some of the dogs from My Canine Companion could come along, it was just wonderful,” Ms Hickson said.

“The children just showed up and gave it so much energy, I think the ploy of having the dogs here just made it more meaningful for them.” Ms Kenny said it had meant a lot to all in the school to be part of the event.

“We’re hoping to get our own school assistance dog from My Canine Companion, so part of the process involves a little bit of fundraising for them,” she said.

Nicole Duggan of My Canine Companion said the Blackpool charity is Ireland’s largest provider of service dogs, accounting for 60% of the country’s dogs every year.

“This June we launched the Big Walk Home campaign, so from the 1 to 7 June we had a team who walked from Dublin to Cork for the charity, we did it over seven days and we have a goal of €100,000 for a new, forever home for our charity, so we can in turn help more families,” she said.

“We had a separate schools challenge which was sponsored by Currys, so we asked schools around the country to organise challenges to support the team that was walking, so it’s the Big Walk Home schools challenge, so that’s what today is about.”

The Cork Educate Together NS Big Walk Home fundraiser is on idonate.ie.