Working with 'Ollies'

Over the last few years, St Oliver Plunkett NS has been utterly transformed with the building of a beautiful brand new school, and the transformation of the original 3 teacher village school.

As the builders gradually moved off site, and the grounds were being planted and grassed we approached the school with a proposal to set up an 'Area of Reflection' - a place where anyone could come to sit, rest, relax, reflect and remember.

We envisaged installing a bench surrounded by wild flowers under a lovely tree. In consultation with the school, the plan changed slightly to an area for Spring Flowers, as there were already areas given over to pollinator plants.

In planning our project, we have piggy backed on a lovely area created by Roy Skinner, Landscape Gardener and former past pupil, incorporating a pond surrounded by a gravelled area and a bedding area, a bug motel and bird box.

The 10th December saw Phase 1 of the St Oliver Plunkett NS Environmental Project come to fruition as members of the Lions Club with the school's Green Team and teachers, worked alongside each other digging and planting!

The work consisted of the planting of our Spring bulbs and native Irish trees. The Spring bulbs will give a progression of beautiful flower and colour from the first blooms of Spring, the Snowdrops, followed by Crocus, Daffodils, Tulips and Allium.
The 3 native Irish Silver Birch trees are under planted with 200 bluebells and should be a most attractive sight come next April/May.

Special thanks to Ronan Hayes, Landscape gardener and a past pupil of the school, for all his help, advice and support. Ronan was the Director of Operations on the day!

The second phase of the project will consist of the installation of a lovely bench so that you can sit down while you remember loved ones, or just chill out in this lovely area. The bench (made of recycled plastic bottles) will be delivered next April.

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Update 29th April 2022
The Area of Reflection is blossoming! Tulips are in full flower and looking beautiful. The Silver Birch trees are in bud and the benches have arrived!

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The Planting