On the 29th. November, four students from Ballymun Youthreach attended the ECO-UNESCO FETAC Awards Ceremony to celebrate the accreditation of six of our most recent graduates. The celebration also included a themed discussion ‘Inspire, Innovate, Create’. The event took place in the Conference room at the Greenhouse, 17 St. Andrew Street, Dublin 2.
The Awards Ceremony took place at 6:30pm and the students travelled to the ceremony along with the centre co-ordinator Jacqui Caulfield and their teacher Jack Talbot. The students who attended, Lee Clarke, Rebecca Kiely, Jamie Leeper and Jonathan McAuley received their FETAC Awards Sustainable Development Level 5.
The themed discussion, which took place after the presentation, provided an insight into Green Entrepreneurship which coincides with Innovation Dublin 2011. This discussion has been organised by ECO-UNESCO’s Alumni Network Committee and provided some interesting insights into possible green entrepreneurial ideas for our centre.

Ballymun Youthreach was sad to say goodbye to Anne Finnegan, Liz Devine and Sean Goggin to retirement this year. It was a tribute to all that such a large number of present and past staff turned up to their farewell night in the Odessa club in November. A great night was had by all. We would also like to extend our best wishes to Sinead McGrath who finished with us this year also. Pictured above are Anne with staff members Brigid Tolster and Claire Hand alongside Sinead and Liz.

Tracey Salter has successfully progressed to Crumlin College to study for her diploma in Beauty Therapy.
Kathleen Reilly has successfully progressed to Crumlin College to study and become a Beauty and Retail Sales consultant.

Below is pictured the Beauty Therapy class 2011 with Jacqui Caulfield : Stacey Skelley, Danika Skeen, Tracey Salter, Nicole Whelan, Sam Doyle, Danielle Mahon, Yvonne Murphy (teacher), Kathleen Reilly

It was with great sadness that the students and staff of Ballymun Youthreach said goodbye to computer teacher Anne Finegan after seven years. Anne was a wonderful asset to the centre and will be greatly missed by everyone. We all would like to take this opportunity to wish Anne all the best in the future and hope that she pops in for many visits in the years to come.

The summer project for Ballymun YR kicked off this week (June 2011) with trips paintballing, bowling and to the zoo. Next weeks trips include Causey Farm, horse-riding and rock climbing before the students break up for a well-deserved rest for the summer.

Ballymun Youthreach chalked up two wins in succession this week in two home matches against opposing Youthreach centres. Victory number one came in emphatic fashion as the team romped to an 11-1 victory against Ballyfermot Youthreach. The team was 1. John Godfrey, 2. Dylan Rooney, 3. Johnny McAuley, 4. Thomas Stokes, 5. Lee Clarke, 6. Thomas Carroll, 7. Sean Cahill, 8. Gerry McHale, 9. Jamie Leeper, 10. Glen Emerson, 11. Dean Carroll. The team followed up this victory by beating Cabra Youthreach 8-3 the following day.

On the 28th May 2011 six students and two teachers from Ballymun Youthreach took part in a European Youth in Action exchange programme. The other countries involved in the exchange were from England and Bulgaria. The exchange took place in Vratsa, a small town about a hundred kilometres north of Sofia. The theme of the exchange was interculturalism and outdoor activities. We were there for seven days; all of us loved the place, we made great friends with the other groups and the activities we took part in were fun to do and we had a laugh doing them. We all got on so well.

Congratulations to our three new mothers in the centre. Jenny Byrne, Danielle Tyrell and Nicola Kiernan all had new babies recently. Jenny’s new baby boy is called Killian, Danielle’s is called Kaylum and Nicola had a baby girl called Katie. Congratulations also to our two members of staff – Deirdre and her new boy M.J. and Tracey and her new boy Conal. We look forward to seeing all the mothers back in the centre soon.

Congratulations to Sophie Doyle who recently won the Dermalogica Student of the year 2011. Sophie who is currently studying beauty and sales in Marino College won the award for her knowledge of skin care and products. Sophie completed her FETAC level 5 in cosmetics studies here last June and her twin sister Samantha has just finished the same course this year.

Ballymun Youthreach entered two teams in the recent FAI sponsored Blanchardstown Respect Cup with the A team finishing up eventual winners. The A team won four and drew one of their five matches on the way to the trophy. The winning team was Gerry McHale, Thomas Carroll, Lee Clarke, Sean Cahill, Glen Emerson and John Godfrey. The B team also put up a great fight winning one of their matches before losing to the A team. Congratulations to the winners and best of luck retaining the trophy next year.