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The Bessbrook and Newry Tramway may long since have run out of track but thanks to Southern Regional College staff and students one of it's trams has been restored to it's former beauty.
The tram that had previously lain derelict for decades in a field close to Camlough Lake once ran on the line taking workers between Newry and Bessbrook. The hydro-electrically powered tramway transported passengers and freight between 1885 and 1948.
Students from the Carpentry & Joinery and Painting and Decorating sections at Greenbank campus, Newry completed the restoration under the careful guidance of Woodwork Technician Kieran Watson. As the derelict tram was extensively damaged, it required a lot of work. The interesting part was that all the metal had corroded and fell apart, while much of the wooden structure was still in place. The complete inside of the tram was restored, along with the external cladding and the roof although intact required a new covering to be fitted.
At all times the team attempted to restore the components to the same design as was used in the original structure. The main steel chassis was totally decayed and needed to be replaced completely. Fortunately, local company GM Steel Fabricators in Dundalk made a new chassis structure for the tram, free of charge. Joseph Walls Ltd agricultural supplier Hilltown had another old carriage which they donated to us for spare parts. The meticulous restoration directly reflects the high calibre skills harnessed and developed at Southern Regional College.
The tram has now been temporarily relocated to a Council storage area on the middle bank Newry, where some art work will be fitted to it. The plan is, subject to planning approval to locate the finished tram under the flyover on the Camlough road to symbolise the link between Bessbrook and Newry.
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As part of the Eco Schools Programme several local primary schools have been presented with their Green Flags at a ceremony in Warrenpoint Town Hall.
Schools attending the reception included Grange Primary School, Kilkeel; Kingsmill Primary School, Whitecross; Bunscoil Bheanna Boirche, Castlewellan; St Dallan’s Primary School, Warrenpoint; and St Joseph’s Primary School, Newcastle.
Seven schools received their first green flags this academic year, taking the total number of schools throughout the district proudly flying the Green Flag to 43.
Cllr Roisin Mulgrew, Chairperson, Newry, Mourne and Down Council spoke to the teachers and pupils attending the presentation ceremony and said, “The Green Flag award is internationally recognised and only obtained by those schools who have reached the highest of environmental standards”.
Councillor Mulgrew continued, “Well done to all staff and pupils for their hard work. A special word of congratulations to the Eco Committee members present here today. You have taken the lead and shown that your school cares about the environment. I look forward to seeing your flag flying proudly outside all your schools soon”.
Eco Schools NI Coordinator, Ruth van Ry said, “It is always a pleasure to attend celebration events such as this to recognise the efforts of pupils and teachers and to celebrate their successes within the Eco-Schools programme. The continued support and encouragement from Newry, Mourne and Down District Council undoubtedly contributes to the great success of schools in the area”.
For more information on the Eco Schools Programme contact Eco Schools NI on 028 9073 6920 or visit eco-schoolsni.org.uk
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Students from Our Lady’s Grammar School in Newry are celebrating a very successful year with the 2017 A Level students achieving superb results.
Expressing her congratulations Principal, Mrs Fiona McAlinden commented ‘‘I am delighted by the girls’ success. These excellent results reward hard work and dedication and will enable our students to progress along many varied career paths. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our teachers for their unwavering commitment to the holistic development of the students and our parents for their support."
The Principal added "In addition to being successful academically, the students have generously contributed to their local communities and to school life through voluntary and charitable work and I wish them the very best for the future.’’
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Some of the top performing GCSE students at Our Lady’s Grammar School in Newry returned to the school on Friday to celebrate their GCSE results.
Included in photograph with Principal, Mrs Fiona McAlinden and Vice-Principal Mrs Teresa McAllister are Fiona Brownlee, Mollie Byrne, Taryn Clarke, Katie Cumiskey, Amber Dixon, Ailish Fearon, Grace Ferguson, Ruth Garvey, Rachel Goodman, Hannah Heatley, Eva Henning, Zaragh Higgins, Lucia Hughes, Catherine Jones, Grace Kehoe, Rachael Larkin, Sinead Lavery, Amy Lowry, Orla Lundy, Catherine Magee, Claire Mallon, Cliodhna Mathers, Aoife McCloy, Laura McGuinness, Jennifer McKay, Caitlin McShane, Anna Morgan, Zainab Munir, Anna Murphy, Victoria Murtagh, Kerri O'Hare, Hannah O'Neill, Ria Prajapati, Aoife Sherry and Ellen Somerville.
Missing from the photograph: Sophie Andrews, Clidna Byrne, Arianna Doherty, Hannah Duff, Megan Farnon, Eimear Hamill, Alice Ruas, Emma Thornbury and Sian Tinnelly
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The provinces best performing college, Southern Regional College with a campus in PAtrick Street in Newry recently celebrated it's 10th birthday.
In August 2007 16 further and higher education colleges merged to create six new area based ‘super colleges.’ The birth of Southern Regional College incorporated the merger of the previously known Armagh College, Newry and Kilkeel Institute and Upper Bann Institute of Further and Higher Education.
Southern Regional College (SRC), deemed ‘Best Performing College’ for a second year running in a report prepared by the Ulster University, has gone from strength to strength during this 10-year period.
From 2007/08 to 2016/17, SRC has reached the 334,231 enrolment mark of which 18,464 enrolments are higher education and 32,144 are apprenticeships.
Brian Doran, Chief Executive at Southern Regional College said “Over the last decade, we have seen thousands of students come through our doors at SRC to experience quality further and higher education. We are delighted to continue to play a key role in transforming people’s lives and providing them with many course pathways and options to ensure that they can reach their full potential. As the largest provider of integrated education in the region, SRC strives to continually build a strong educational future and focus across Armagh and Down, with three new landmark campuses planned for Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon. We are certainly very excited about the next 10 years and to be able to continue to build upon our success.”
For more information about Southern Regional College and the range of courses on offer, please visit: www.src.ac.uk or Tel: 0300 1231223
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Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School students, John Cosgrove and Cathal Doran, and New-Bridge Integrated College student, Amy Jordan, receive their certificates for successfully completing the prestigious Novosco Cloud Camp in association with Almac Group from Jonathan Graham, Almac Group and Patrick McAliskey, Novosco Managing Director.
Novosco Cloud Camp, which is organised by Novosco and supported by Almac Group, took place at Belfast Metropolitan College’s Titanic Quarter Campus in August.
The five-day summer camp, which was free to students aged 16-17 who are enrolled at schools and colleges throughout Northern Ireland, provided first-hand experience in the management and development of IT infrastructure in a fun learning environment.
Professional IT engineers and Belfast Met lecturers facilitated the camp, which also included a tour of Novosco’s headquarters at Catalyst in Belfast to allow students to see a world-class managed cloud company in action.
In addition to free registration, all participants were provided with a free Raspberry Pi computer to keep.
Areas covered at the Novosco Cloud Camp included: networking, Python programming, basic HTML programming, and creating virtual servers.
Novosco Managing Director, Patrick McAliskey, said: “Cloud Camp was a real success in 2016 and again we had a big response this year in terms of applicants, making 2017 a thriving success too. We know that there is demand for IT skills in Northern Ireland and that this will grow. But it is evident from the registrations we’ve had in Cloud Camp that there is also real interest in IT careers.
“At Novosco we work hard to develop and retain the expertise we have, but with that comes the responsibility to support the development of the generation of IT infrastructure engineers, skilled programmers and future developers. The Novosco Cloud Camp is just one part of our commitment to supporting the future of the industry and growing the talent pool in Northern Ireland.
“We were delighted to be able to work with Almac Group and Belfast Met once again, who too share our commitment to developing the skills of the future in Northern Ireland.”
Andrew Hillis, Group Head of Information Services at Almac Group, commented: “Providing an extensive range of integrated services to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally is built upon sound IT infrastructure. Some of the skills that young people are learned last week at Cloud Camp are crucial to the day-to-day operations of our international organisation. We’re thrilled to have played our part alongside Novosco to stimulate interest in IT and encourage potential future employees.”
Novosco is a managed cloud provider with clients in the public, private and voluntary sectors across the UK and Ireland, including Premiership football teams, police forces, some of the UK’s largest health trusts and many of Northern Ireland’s top companies.
Belfast Metropolitan College’s Principal and CEO, Marie-Thérèse McGivern, added: “It was a privilege to once again host the Novosco Cloud Camp, in partnership with Almac Group, this summer at our Titanic Quarter Campus.
“The college has a rich history in delivering comprehensive courses in ICT and guiding students along the path to future employment for some of Northern Ireland’s leading companies. It was a pleasure to welcome this year’s students to the campus and to support them on their informative journey with our excellent facilities and top-class lecturers who worked alongside Novosco’s talented IT infrastructure engineers.”
Employing 150 people, Novosco has offices in Belfast, Manchester, Dublin, and Cork.
For more information on the Novosco Cloud Camp, in partnership with Almac Group, visit www.novoscocloudcamp.com
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Southern Regional College’s Greenbank Campus student Armondas Tamulis is currently in training for the upcoming WorldSkills competition scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi next month.
After winning a gold medal in the WorldSkills UK Competitions National Finals in Wall and Floor Tiling, Armondas successfully secured a place to represent Team UK at WorldSkills.
When Armondas travels to compete in Abu Dhabi at the start of October, he will have to create three complex pieces from drawings, including the Abu Dhabi skyline and the United Arab Emirates emblem, all within a tight timescale of 22 hours. He will be up against the best competitors from 26 other countries from right across the globe and the winning project must show finesse, accuracy and craftsmanship.
He recently returned from an event in Denmark where he trained alongside apprentices from India, Hungary, Belarus, Russia and Denmark - all of whom he will be competing against in Abu Dhabi. The competition was very high at this event and proved to be a good opportunity to benchmark his skills against the other apprentice competitors. Although each competitor is focussed on winning the gold medal, they are all united by their love of their trade and have been backed by the industry in their respective countries. Armondas has been generously supported along the way by Schlűter-Systems, Johnson Tiles, BAL, RUBI UK and The Tile Association which has greatly assisted him in his training and development.
When Armondas started his apprenticeship with DLP Tiling and Southern Regional College, he immediately showed great dedication when he made the daily 40-minute commute from his home in Portadown to the SRC Greenbank Campus in Newry to learn his trade.
He was encouraged to enter the CITBNI SkillBuild Competitions by his lecturer Paul Doran, who is now his training expert and mentor for WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. From taking part in these competitions, Armondas could see how competing can help enhance the technical training he learned as an apprentice as well as giving him the opportunity to develop other attributes including good team work and communication skills, all of which is needed to be successful in the construction industry.
Armondas said; “I can’t remember the last weekend I had when I wasn’t practicing my tiling skills. But putting my social life on hold is a small price to pay as I vie for the title of ‘World’s Best Tiler’. Even now, I have to pinch myself as I say that. If someone had told me when I first started on the Southern Regional College’s Schools Partnership Programme that I would end up representing the UK in the Wall and Floor Tiling category, I wouldn’t have believed them! This programme was my first introduction to tiling and I immediately loved it. I decided there and then that this was the career for me.”
He goes on to say; “My training programme for this international skills competition is intense - from fitting my training around my work commitments to overhauling my diet and fitness regime to ensure that I can perform to the best of my ability. Everything I do is geared towards delivering a world beating performance at Abu Dhabi! Success at WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 would personally mean the world to me. But I want to use my competition experience to show young people just how far an apprenticeship in construction can take you.”
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Southern Regional College apprentice Kieran Magee has been chosen from a vast selection of impressive candidates to be crowned UK Apprentice of the Year at the Federation of Master Builder Awards. The awards celebrate the best of the best in the UK construction industry with the winners decided by a team of leading experts. Nick Knowles, building enthusiast and TV presenter, presented Kieran with his coveted prize at the glittering awards ceremony which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel Park Lane in London.
Kieran, who works as a self-employed wall and floor tiling specialist in Mayobridge, was selected as the national champion for his tireless professionalism, high standard of workmanship and positive attitude towards his studies.
He stood out from the competition due to his strong commitment to personal development, progression within his chosen trade and dedication to his clients. As well as being self-employed, running a successful business and preparing for national competitions outside of working hours, Kieran is up at the crack of dawn to help out on his family’s dairy farm.
Kieran has completed the Level 3 Wall and Floor Tiling course at the College’s Greenbank Campus in Newry. He is no stranger to awards and has previously achieved gold medals at NI Skillbuild and WorldSkills UK as well as being awarded the Tile Association Trainee of the Year and the Montgomery Award.
Kieran was nominated for the UK Apprentice of the Year at the Federation of Master Builder Awards by CITB representative David Cooper. David saw Kieran as being a shining example for the apprenticeship programme.
He explained; “Kieran is another highly skilled and motivated apprentice wall and floor tiler to emerge from Southern Regional College. His achievements are commendable and are worthy of recognition as amongst the best in the UK. His vocational ability, alongside his obvious work ethic are attributes that will pay dividends for Kieran in the future. His membership of the UK squad and his progression towards team selection for WorldSkills 2017 is a reflection of his potential to represent the UK at the highest level in vocational competitions.”
The Federation of Master Builders believes firmly in supporting businesses that invest in the future workforce by taking on and training apprentices and Kieran is a shining example of the benefits of investing in young builders and tradespeople. His attitude and tireless efforts matched with good humour make him a very worthy winner of the UK Apprentice 2017 title.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “Kieran has continually demonstrated exceptional commitment and determination to excel, and is a great example to others. We encourage all construction firms to train an apprentice if they aren’t doing so already. Not only will higher levels of apprenticeship training help solve the skills crisis, it will also provide more young people with an opportunity to begin a rewarding career in construction. Two-thirds of all construction apprentices are trained by SME firms like the ones represented by the FMB, and we must continue our proud history of training if we are to meet the increasing demand for new homes, schools, hospitals and transport infrastructure.”
Mr. Brian Doran, Chief Executive at Southern Regional College commented: “This is a truly remarkable achievement for Kieran and I am really delighted that his hard work, dedication, commitment and skill has been recognised yet again. For Kieran to have been awarded The Northern Ireland Apprentice of the Year was a great achievement in its own right but now to be crowned the UK winner also, this is a true testament to Kieran as a highly skilled professional within his craft as he has triumphed over many other highly skilled apprentices from throughout the UK. I would also like to congratulate Paul Doran, SRC floor and wall tiling tutor, who has mentored and guided Kieran through the regional and national competitions over the past number of years.”
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Fourteen Southern Regional College students are in preparation to compete at the National Finals of the WorldSkills UK Competitions at the Skills Show in Birmingham.
Having battled through the national qualifiers and completed months of intensive training, 14 skilled young apprentices and students from SRC have now made it through to the final showdown in front of 70,000 spectators at The Skills Show at the NEC, Birmingham in November.
500 of the finest apprentices and students from right across the UK have been selected to compete at this event. With 14 competitors selected, SRC has the highest number from any college or training provider within Northern Ireland.
The Skills Show is the UK’s largest apprenticeship, careers and skills event - hosting the National Finals of the WorldSkills UK Competitions, bringing together the UK’s leading employers, colleges and training providers.
The eventual victors will be the UK’s No.1 in their chosen skill, and may be eligible for selection to represent the nation at WorldSkills Kazan 2019. The competitions, which are run in partnership with organisations from industry and education, are regulated and powered by WorldSkills UK, which takes a radical approach to hothousing young talent to inspire the next generation and power UK industry post Brexit. WorldSkills UK, funded by business and government, utilises the training and performance models of elite sport to optimise skills at the highest level.
Southern Regional College students who will be competing at the Skills Shows are: Niamh Leonard from Mowhan who was selected to compete in Beauty Therapy-Body and Lauren McMahon from Warrenpoint in Media Make Up-Body. Victoria Black from Dromore will be competing in the Forensic Science category.
In the Culinary Arts category, Ryan Finnegan from Dundrum has been selected and for Restaurant Service, Kieran Cleverley from Newry will compete.
Six students from across the UK have been selected to compete in the Butchery competition, with SRC students making up half of these competitors - James Gracey from Dromore, Martin Naan from Enniskillen and Joseph O’Gorman from Mowhan.
In Plastering and Drywall Systems, Glenn McArdle from Bessbrook will be competing. For Joinery, Richard Shannon from Kilkeel has been selected and Tommy Helliwell from Tandragee has been selected for Cabinet Making.
There were eight students selected from within the UK to compete in Wall and Floor Tiling, three of which are from SRC- Daniel McBurney from Banbridge, Sean McLoughlin from Newry and Cathal Murphy from Newry.
Mr. Brian Doran, Chief Executive at Southern Regional College commented: “We are absolutely delighted that 14 of our trainees and apprentices have been selected to participate at the UK Skills Show, an event which showcases the very best talent from across the UK. Southern Regional College has the largest number of participants selected to compete from any college in Northern Ireland and this is a testament not only to the skill level of our participants but also to the support and professionalism of their lecturers. I wish each of our participants every success at the Skills Show in Birmingham.”
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