School Tours
History Trip to Cinema
Hunger
On November, 13th last the C.B.S. Charleville, 5th Year History class embarked on a trip to the Omniplex in Limerick to view the outstanding and historically accurate film "Hunger".
The Blast! Film's production portrays the isolation and hardship endured by IRA prisoners inside the H Block of the Maze Prison in early 1981 as they attempt to achieve "political prisoner" status through a "basket and no words" protest. Having failed to dent the refusal of the British Government to grant concessions, IRA Commander in the prison, Bobby Sands orders a hunger strike to increase pressure on the British government and Margaret Thatcher whose determination to defeat the strikers is heard throughout the film.
Directed by innovative artist, Steve McQueen, "Hunger" is told from three perspectives, that of a unionist prison officer, a new IRA inmate and mainly from the perspective of Bobby Sands played by the superb Michael Fassbender. The film gives an intriguing account of the life of an officer in the prison from a routing inspection of his car for explosives to the physical trauma encountered as a result of disciplining prisoners.
McQueen then pushes the boundaries of graphic detail in cinema with a disturbing account of the conditions IRA prisoners are expected to live in as the film follows the point of view of a new IRA inmate. Following a switch of focus we become submerged in the life of Bobby Sands and the imminent hunger strike. In preparation for the strike Sands attempts to justify his reasons for going on hunger strike with a priest played by Liam Cunningham. What follows is one of the finest and longest scenes in mainstream cinema in which Sands and the priest debate politics and morality, for nearly twenty minutes in a single cut scene. "Hunger" continues to follow Sands throughout the hunger strike to his eventual death in at series of visibly difficult and at times unbearable scenes as we witness the physical deterioration of the emaciated Sands. The only thing as admirable as Fassbender's performance was his determination to lose a substantial amount of weight to fulfil the image of the sickly-thin Sands.
Despite being guilty of unnecessary lengthening in areas "Hunger" is an outstanding film, which is of great value as a secondary historical source to all history students due to the film crew's determination to remain loyal to the facts of the Hunger Strikes.
Upon viewing you'll also find that "Hunger" is a triumph for the Irish Film Industry, due to its compelling performances.
Compiled by Alan McCarthy, 5th Year History Class, C.B.S. Charleville.
Manchester Soccer Trip to Old Trafford
We were told to be at the school by 3.30 AM, Saturday morning, where a bus would be waiting. Everybody in the bus seemed unusually lively and awake. They were chatting and listening to a never-ending stream of music, which became frustrating after just an hour. We would be catching a ferry from Dublin and travelling to Hollyhead, Wales. The only thing that unsettled me was the three and a half hour bus journey to Dublin!
I tried desperately not to become impatient while in the bus, which was very difficult considering that I had gotten no sleep and my ears were numb from hearing the re-mix of the Nokia tune. I never want to hear it again.
After three hours and twenty minutes – that’s right, ten minutes less than my prediction – we arrived at the ferry. It would take us about three hours to get to Hollyhead. This would be a lot more pleasant than the bus journey, as the bus did not have an arcade and a restaurant – well, it better not have.
When we arrived in Hollyhead, it took about two hours to get to Manchester, where we were allowed to shop for an hour, before making our way to Old Trafford. For the shopping, we were split into groups and each group would have a leader. I was made the leader of a group, but none of the rules applied once the teachers were out of view. Everyone just wondered off with whoever they wanted to. Upon travelling to each shop, I discovered that the English are more annoying that the Irish when it comes to shopping. People were pushing and shoving to buy things that they would probably end up throwing out after two weeks anyway. This is what happens in the sales.
After the hour, we went back to the bus and made our way to Old Trafford – it’s a big hurling field, or something. Police-men seemed to be the main inhabitants of this particular place. Everywhere you looked, there was a stall with fake ‘official merchandise’. I wouldn’t dream of purchasing anything off of them... I bought a scarf and a pair of gloves.
You may not be a fan of soccer (like me), but when you enter the stadium and take your seat, the atmosphere almost corrupts you, and you become a lunatic like the rest of the Manchester United fans. The word ‘lunatic’ would be an understatement for the man who was sitting a few seats in front of me. I believe that he escaped from an asylum. This was confirmed during the match...
When the match began, the man immediately jumped from his seat and started shouting, which is almost like a regulation at a match... but, then he started jumping up-and-down, and banging his seat, and giving his ‘friend’ (I’m not sure if they even knew one another) head-butts every so often.
We were all delighted when Manchester United won six – nil. After the third goal, people began to leave. When the whistle was blown and the match ended, we made our way quickly out of the stadium. Regrouping was challenging, but we all managed to find each other. Then, we went back to the bus and to the hotel...
The ‘Hotel Britannia’ was more elaborate than I had expected. There was a mix-up about who was staying in a room with who, but after a bit of rearranging, people didn’t mind. There weren’t a lot of television channels in the room, but what was there, was good. We had a choice of watching either Shallow Hal or Shaun of the Dead.
After breakfast, we travelled back to Old Trafford, where we were getting a tour of the stadium. This ended up being quite brief, as we needed to make our way back to the ferry. While travelling to the ferry, we stopped in Wales, in a town which holds the world record for the longest name. It was called Llanfairpwllgywngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. No, I’m not making that up. Imagine writing that on an envelope!
It was very windy and it was raining quite a lot. This caused the boat to rock back-and-forth, making almost everyone feel queezy. Thankfully, we made it back to Ireland safely. And now... a three and a half hour bus journey – three hours and twenty minutes if we’re lucky...
No, it was three and a half hours. Towards the end of the bus journey, I began feeling ill, so I was looking forward to getting home. When we finally got back, we were all exhausted from the constant travelling, but it was an excellent experience. And, it made me a soccer fan for ninety minutes!
By Eric Heffernan - T.Y
6th Year Trip to Dublin
By Brian Fitzgearld
On a cold morning while most were sleeping. This brave art group braved the blustery winds and assembled at Charleville railway station. It was early and most were bleary eyed but excited about the forthcoming trip. Finally after minutes of waiting the train arrived, many were happy to settle into the comfort of the carriage. There were many different activities going on some slept, others read while most ate breakfast roles and chatted excitedly about the day ahead.
We arrived in Dublin at 9am where we preceded to get a bus to Grafton Street, where we visited the National Art Gallery. We went to see a Polish exhibition and most were astounded by the artist’s expression in their art. We saw many different pieces, some deranged with a deeper meaning, others more subtle in their approach but yet the art was there to be appreciated. Most students found this to be a worthwhile experience and expansive note taking and sketching was done, truly a sign of the diligence of the group.
Next up was a visit for group! Some found an all your can eat buffet at a pizzeria while others made do with a humble burger and chips. With the batteries recharged we preceded to the National History Museum were we were shown van our artifacts from the art course such as the Ardagh Chalice, Gluisheen Gorged, Lunula,, tibula. Everybody was fascinated with this experience and the questions were flying all throughout the visit afterwards. Students got a chance to look at some of the mummies from ancient Egypt along with some other Irish artifacts. Then it was on to Trinity where we saw the Book of Kells. Something which disappointed me personally as the page that was open was bland and unimpressive. The day concluded with a short shopping spree followed by a bus back to Huston.
The journey home was much like the early morning students were severely fatigued from the amount of walking, but were much wiser thanks to the enlightenment of the art and wealth of history along with the brief glimpse of George Hook (rugby pundit). A great day was had by all.
Barcelona ‘07
On October 25th forty-five 2nd and 3rd year students set out for Barcelona accompanied by Mr. O’Callaghan, Mr. Gallagher, Ms Horgan, Ms Power and Ms Barrett. After an exhausting journey we were delighted to reach our destination, Salou, a beautiful seaside town approximately one and a half hours south of Barcelona. The fabulous 4* Salou Park hotel boasted a well equipped games room, outdoor pool and buffet style restaurant.
Our first day in Spain dawned sunny and warm, perfect weather conditions for our tour of Barcelona city. We visited Parc Güell and La Segrada Familia, two of Barcelona’s most beautiful sites, both created by famous architect Antoni Gaudí. After lunch on the picturesque Ramblas we headed to Nou Camp for a tour and finished our day in the gift shop attached to the impressive stadium.
On Saturday we visited Montserrat, a breathtaking monastery situated on top of a mountain. Despite being a bit wobbly legged after the perilous cable car ride back to the bus spirits were high and we spent another pleasant afternoon shopping and soaking in the atmosphere on Las Ramblas. A high-light for many was the Saturday night disco at a neighboring hotel where our lads taught the girls from Presentation Secondary in Kilkenny a thing or two on the dance floor.
A leisurely Sunday morning by the hotel pool was followed by a trip to the aquarium in Barcelona’s docklands. Excitement rose as we crossed the city once again to Nou Camp, the spectacular 100,000 capacity stadium, to watch Barcelona FC beat Almeria 2:0.
Monday brought the long awaited trip to Port Adventura theme park. We were saturated by the Big Splash, terrified by the Tower Drop and brought to our knees by Dragon Khan, Europe’s biggest roller-coaster!
Tuesday saw the return of 45 happy and healthy students and five exhausted teachers!
¡Viva España!
Cork Film Festival
On Thursday 18th of October, the TY Class and our English teacher Ms White traveled to Cork to attend a lecture on the history of film as part of the Cork Film Festival 2007. The venue was the Crawford College of Art, Cork City. Here we attended a lecture in which we saw a number of short films such as “ Sortie d’Usine” (Factory Exit 1895) and a film of a train (1897) coming towards a camera, each lasting only 30 seconds . The lecturer discussed artists like Dali and the Lumiere brothers who wanted to portray their dreams in film. As the discussion developed the lecturer introduced a variety of genres such as comedy, horror, musical, etc. In the final discussion the lecturer explained the differences between films made in different parts of the world. In Hollywood the films were mainly action packed and made with big budgets while in many European countries, they tend to be more informative but slow moving and were normally cheaper to make. The saying “je pense, je mange” come into play here. In one Hollywood movie, an off duty officer goes to get a hotdog, but before he can finish eating it, he goes is interrupting by a bank robbery and he has to shoot the intruders. Whereas in a French movie, a group of people are sitting at the table for lunch and having a quiet chat about the day to day events in their lives and nothing else happens to them. It was a very enjoyable day where we learned a lot about the variety of film and film as an art form. Thanks to Ms White for taking us to the Festival, it was a great experience.
Leaving Cert English Trip to Cork Opera House
Othello
Since the literal meaning, from the Greek, of the word "Drama" is "to do", one is painfully aware of the limitations of studying a play without experiencing the action. Consequently, the attendance at Othello at the Cork Opera House by the Leaving Cert. English class in September 2007 was most beneficial. The sometimes tedious task of studying Shakespearean literature in the classroom became accessible, immediate and engaging. This innovative and refreshing production of Othello was directed by Belinda Wild, increasingly renowned for creating dynamic productions for young audiences. Presented in a graphic and entertaining way were the ideas in the play Othello of conflict, tension, contrast and emotion. In this production, a group of seven actors used character masks to enhance the grotesque and deeply symbolic nature of Othello. The masks, set and costumes designed by Californian-born Theatre Designer, Lisa Zagone, enabled the actors to access the deep emotional undercurrent of the play and to expose the uncomfortable emotions that inform it and are familiar to us all . The props, lighting, music and special effects presented by the Janus Theatre Company created the impressive illusion of another time and another place.
Trip to Kilfinane
On Monday, December 3rd, the 2A class and a selection of senior students were brought to Kilfinane Education Centre for a day to celebrate their positive behaviour during the 2006/07 school year
