Although schools are all too often associated with academic and sporting achievement, a new school-based Irish initiative is beginning to place mental well-being and health on the radar. Buddy Bench Ireland is a child-led positive mental health programme in a schooling environment that promotes emotional resilience and mental wellbeing, through supporting the core competencies of…
#Walk4Families 2017 On October 8 families across Ireland will be donning stripes to take part in The Ronald McDonald House Charity’s annual #Walk4Families event. The aim of the fundraising walk is to build a new 53-bedroom house in order to keep more families close to their child when they are seriously ill or undergoing…
Ruth Moriarty and Sinéad Keeley Although we didn’t travel to Africa until fifth year, our journey with the Schools and Health Foundation (SHF) began when we were much younger. We saw older girls come back from Africa who had helped to build schools in Sierra Leone. Inspired by the change we could make, we…
Daniel Miller It was six days before her death. We didn’t know it would only be six days, but we knew that Sarah would not grace us with her presence for much longer. And yet the temptation is to describe the occasion as rather lovely and certainly fun. She had offered us each a…
Q: My boyfriend and I have been going out for five years. We are both in our early 30s. I want to get married but he says he is not ready. How do I encourage him to take the next step, without giving him an ultimatum? A: Perhaps I would give a different answer…
Our seven-year-old has been busy writing computer programmes. He has become fascinated with a piece of software that enables kids to control a digital cat with simple instructions, such as: walk five steps; say “meow”; turn 90 degrees, and so on. It’s good to see him understand so naturally the basic logic that underpins…
Petra Conroy The word is beginning to spread in the town lands and parishes around the country: the World Meeting of Families (WMOF2018) is coming to Ireland next year, and there are high hopes that Pope Francis is coming too. Naturally, news of a possible visit from the Holy Father captures a lot of…
It’s not autumn until you’ve had apple and blackberry crumble or pie topped with delicious custard for dessert. My childhood memories are filled with homemade apple pie, crumble, or sponge pudding with handpicked blackberries and creamy custard. As long as it had apple, blackberries and custard, it didn’t matter whether it was pastry, sponge or…
In spite of his surname, Columban Fr Tomás King, has lived a life far removed from social prestige and wealth, spending the past 25 years away from his Irish home, in a country which suffers from internal political disputes, severe poverty and ongoing violence. His journey from working with the Traveller community in Galway to…
Our children always comment (or complain depending on how you look at it) that whenever and wherever we are on holiday we will end up in a cathedral, a church or a graveyard at some point of the trip. That was certainly true this year when we went to Italy. From little quiet chapels in…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Wendy Grace
Erin Fox
Bairbre Cahill