Lovely messages!
‘Learning from Each Other’ – since 1994
This is a collection of just a very few of the wonderful letters and cards we have received over the years.
One of the founding aims of Shimna was to create a local shared space and to build ourselves a place within our local community. The letters and cards are so often from those who share the space with us and those who have welcomed us into the community.
Some of the letters are from visitors, such as President Mary McAleese...
...and placement student Toni, both of whom took the trouble to write.
Sometimes a letter came in appreciation for a visit from us. Sometimes our visitors came from abroad, from Germany, from France…
Sometimes a letter was a thank you for a contribution we had been able to make: when our choir sang to celebrate the launch of our local RNLI inshore craft, Eliza.
When our Sign Language class was able to make a contribution to support the visit of our pioneering Sign Language teacher Raymond to the Deaf Mission.
When our Christmas fundraising was shared between our local Vincent de Paul and our local foodbank, the Pantry..
Sometimes our students just stepped in and helped and those who needed the help took the trouble to write;
sometimes appreciation came for our wider concerns and activism.
We received lots of cards in appreciation of our primary languages outreach, showing off the language they were learning with us!
Sometimes a thank you came along which was particularly appreciated. Not just because we had been able to contribute, but because we had been invited to contribute to an event which encapsulated how we aimed to live and develop Integration. Of course our school was founded with the aim of reconciliation between our two conflicted communities within Northern Ireland, but if Integration means anything, the principles of Integration need to inform how our society addresses every other potential division.
Sometimes a letter came from the Glen and Donard Folds and celebrated the close links we managed to create with our closest neighbours: Glen Fold through we were the top bananas; when we helped out in the Fold gardens.
Our digging and earth moving came in for particular appreciation; our litter picking – we always knew we were partly responsible! – was always appreciated by the Fold residents with whom we share the back lane.
Sometimes the cards came from our many community partners: through our links with First Mourne Rainbows, Brownies and Guides and GirlGuiding South Down.
Sometimes the thanks was a big bunch of flowers, and a wee card, for example our longterm partners, Shimna Stars Special Olympics Basketball Club.
The really special letters are from our very own students. Really special!
