First day of school Feb 23, 2023

Our first morning at St. Columb's Park House was bright, with crocuses, snowdrops and a few daffodils in the distance. We slept in a bit and then got fed a giant English breakfast with eggs, potatoes and beans and bacon and sausage. And/or porridge and fruit. We all ate and then got into our first-day-of-school clothes and headed out in the school bus.

The kids sure looked charming in their school clothes. 

On the way to school, our bus driver couldn't resist taking us to a very old cemetery on the grounds of a very very old church (dated to Normans) and showing us a very beautiful Lough Enagh (Lake). The morning sun was magical shining down on these centuries old headstones in the woods. Older than most of us have ever seen.

And then we arrived at Oakgrove Integrated College and met with the wonderful Principal John Harkin. 

It was exciting to finally arrive at the building after hearing about the school for months, and the kids were a bit anxious to actually meet Oakgrove students. 

Upon arrival a few nervous Oakgrove students appeared and offered to take groups of RHS students on a little tour. So off they went in small groups to see classrooms and have a chat. A lunch followed in the cafeteria where RHS students mixed and mingled with OakGrove students and began to hang out together in the 6th Form Common Room. 

After school let out, we met up with the new post-Covid Oakgrove Hands for a Bridge group and convened together in a music room to meet with Pat Byrne, the playwrite and theatre director heading Sole Purpose Productions.  We sat together and watched a recent documentary film made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the group and then had a chance to speak with her afterwards. What is this group? An amazing organization dedicated to writing and producing plays that help to bring awareness to  social problems with an array of creative and interactive strategies for helping audiences re-imagine outcomes. After watching the documentary, Bryne stood up and took questions. She described to the students, for example, how she had created Blinkered, a play about suicide that was built on the real stories and perspectives of families who had gone through a loss, and that included a moment where the audience could submit places for intervention into the drama. And the actors could act it out. She also described the impact that she remembered having with a play called 'The Shopper and the Boy', about the NI Troubles when members of the audience could imagine different outcomes and points of intervention. 

We were all moved by her presentation and the film and shared a common sense of the profound power and significance of the arts -- theatre, music, poetry -- to make an impact on what seem to be intractable political and economic problems. The kids were lucky to meet her and learn about her work. And we hope to have her back in Seattle sometime in the near future.

Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive, of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland has said "Sole Purpose Productions has earned an almost peerless reputation in Northern Ireland for producing dynamic and challenging theatre that is unafraid to confront the most challenging issues of our times. Domestic violence, abuse of the elderly, addiction, human trafficking, gender politics, mental health - all heavyweight material that has been tackled with the deftest of touches.  Theirs is the kind of art that helps us to understand the world around us, asks us to walk in another person’s shoes, compels us to confront our prejudices and preconceptions." 

After dinner, we sit with our tea, and the kids adjourn to play serious card games. Tomorrow we go back to school and have yet another very full day in store for them. 

Barbara