A primary school from County Fermanagh – St. Martin’s Garrison – and its partner school under the Shared Education Programme, Kilbarron National School in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, were the only schools invited to perform at the recent 25th anniversary celebration of the International Fund for Ireland.

The event, which was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Europa Hotel on Friday, 24^th February, saw 250 guests celebrate the work of the International Fund for Ireland over the last quarter of a century.

Fermanagh was also represented through The Fermanagh Trust which had a display stand show-casing Shared Education and a number of delegates from the Trust mingled with other guests from across Ireland and further afield.

The St. Martin’s and Kilbarron Folk Group came together over the last number of years and have performed in the past for parents, grandparents and the wider community at various events. This was the first time they performed to such a large audience, which included Ministers from the Northern Ireland Executive, local councillors from all over Ireland, the Board of the International Fund for Ireland and other government and community and voluntary sector representatives.

Dr. Denis Rooney, CBE, Chairman of the International Fund for Ireland thanked the schools saying: “I wish to thank the pupils and staff from St Martin's Primary School, Garrison and Kilbarron National School, Ballyshannon for providing the music at the special event held in the Europa Hotel in Belfast on Friday to mark the Fund's 25th Anniversary of peace building across the island of Ireland. The music helped to make the event a great occasion and wished the cross-community/cross-border school music group well in all their future shared musical activities.”

Geraldine Higgins, Principal of St. Martin’s Garrison, said: “There was a lot of excitement in the run up to the event and having been the only schools asked to perform on such a prestigious occasion, we felt very honoured. Some of the children couldn’t sleep with excitement the night before, but we are pleased to report that everything went very well and we received thanks and praise from the International Fund and The Fermanagh Trust for our hard work and performance.”

Priscilla Leslie, Principal of Kilbarron National School, Ballyshannon, said: “The folk group has been practising and performing for a number of years now and on the back of our CD, which was a huge hit, we can now claim we have shot to national prominence having been asked to play to such an audience. The children from the two schools mix really well and we see this Shared Education partnership as adding incalculable strength to the children’s experiences.”

Lauri McCusker, Director of The Fermanagh Trust praised both schools for their performance on the day saying: “We have had excellent feedback from the International Fund for Ireland and from other guests for the performance by both schools.

Shared Education promotes a partnership approach and whether that is within Fermanagh or cross-border it is essential that people work with their natural geographic partners and not necessarily those from within the same sectors. It’s fair to say that both schools hit the right note!”

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