To tie in with Green Week, the Patrician Academy Student Council held an environmentally-themed ‘Poster Competition’ within the school. 1st and 2nd year students were encouraged to enter and we received a huge number of entrants. On Thursday, 26th April, we invited Mary Cashman of Mallow Tidy Towns Committee to come in and judge the competition. Needless to say, she was blown away by the quality of the posters and found it very difficult to choose between them. However, after much deliberation, she came to a decision. The winners are as follows:

1st Year winner:  Akhil Jacob, runners-up: Waichaya Nadung and David Shelly.

2nd Year winner:  Ryan Brown, runners-Up: Ittiwat Akiyawang and Kevin Hegarty.

To showcase the outstanding talents of these students, all posters were put on display in the foyer, outside the office. All in all, the poster competition was an immense success and it will certainly be run on an annual basis for years to come.

After judging the poster competition, Mary Cashman was escorted to the Demo Room, where she gave a talk to first year students. Mrs. Cashman spoke very well, outlining the role of the Mallow Tidy Towns Committee in keeping the town clean. She explained that they are a voluntary body and that they receive little funding. Moreover, with a mere ten members, she revealed that they were finding it difficult to fight the litter problem alone. However, they try their best, meeting three times a week to go out and clean up the town, plant flowers or pick up litter. She also suggested the idea of designing custom-made birdboxes and bat-boxes and Mrs Glynn revealed that the Patrician Academy would be happy to come on board. We must consult the woodwork department on such future plans but perhaps it could be a joint venture next year.

 Finally, Mrs, Cashman concluded by pleading with students to keep the area in front of their house clean and urged them to join the Tidy Towns Committe if interested. Everyone is welcome. Together, we can make a difference and ensure that Mallow is a cleaner place to live for generations to come.