In the olden days, Belleek Manor and its 500 acres of wooded parkland must have been a truly spectacular sight. The estate stretched from the Gate Lodge (Castle Road) to the River Moy and from the river out to the Killala Road.

Numerous greenhouses which produced grapes, prize-winning tomatoes and various other fruit, shepherded by an impressive orchard, enveloped the grounds of the farmyard. Some still recall the beauty and splendour attached to Belleek Manor of old. The history of Belleek however goes much further back, travelling back in time to the 13th century, when the area was first inhabited circa 1200. Some of the remains now lie in the grounds of Ballina House, owned by Dr. Tom Moffatt T.D..

Belleek Castle Hotel, as we know it today, was built of cut stone in 1831, the same year the National School system was established here in Ireland and St. Muredach's Cathedral was in the process of completion. The Manor was erected by the eldest son of James Knox of Broadlands, Ballysokeery whose grandfather was M.P. Paul Annesley Gore of Belleek. After the death of his father James Knox on the 21st October 1818, it was his eldest son Francis Arthur Knox-Gore of Belleek Manor who succeeded him and was created Baronet on the 5th December 1868. The cost of erecting such a magnificent castle amounted to £10,000.

When Baronet Francis Arthur Knox-Gore died on the21st May 1873, he was buried in the grounds of the Demesne in view of the Castle. A striking monument of cut stone was built over his resting place, surrounded by a deep waterless moat and erected by his son Sir Charles James. Sir Charles Knox-Gore was also buried at Belleek along with his dog Phizzie, overlooking the river Moy. When Sir Charles died, his daughter Matilda inherited the property.

Belleek Castle remained the property of the Knox-Gore family for over 100 years. In 1940 Colonel William Saunders Knox-Gore, grandson of Matilda, sold the estate to the Beckett family of Ballina. Jacob Francis Beckett had planned to turn the estate into a racecourse and stud farm but died before he could realise his dream. It was the Beckett family who returned the Castle to its former glory, only to sell it to the Mayo County Council.

The Mayo County Council used the Castle as a sanatorium in the 1950's and most of the land was acquired by the Department of Forestry in the Land Commission. When the cost of upkeeping the Castle proved too much for the County Council, they planned to remove the roof of the building and so avoid certain levies. Fortunately, before they could do this, a Jersey Island hotelier named Marshall Doran bought the Castle for not more than £5,000. He then turned it into the Belleek Castle Hotel we know today.

The Belleek Forest Enhancement Association is planning to redevelop the woodland area of Belleek and make it more accessible for the public. They have drawn up an 8-point plan of their aims for the project. Some of the points contained in the plan are:

To widen existing pathways and tar the main paths used by the public; to erect signposts pointing the way to the various historical sights of the wood.

To clear away some of the dead branches and unnecessary brush from the riverbank, thus creating pockets in the hedgerow where visitors can get an uninhibited view of the river and the recently developed Quay.

To clean out the silt in the 'duck pond' and build an island in the centre which will be inhabited by wild birds. Unfortunately the original quotation for this particular plan has now quadrupled due to extensive drainage of silt in the area.

To reconstruct the gravestone of Charles Knox-Gore and 'Phizzie' which at present is in two halves and the inscription is illegible.

Some of the other plans include improving the picnic area and constructing signs prohibiting litter. Applications have been made by the Association for grant aid from Coillte and the Leader project. Coillte have made a commitment to supply material goods like fencing and signs and Leader has approved the applications for grants for the pathways and picnic area. Unfortunately Leader excluded the most expensive venture from grant aid - the duck pond. The Association would like to thank those who took part in the fund-raising walk for Belleek. They would especially like to thank the local national schools for their help.

On the eleventh of December the annual Christmas Carol Service was staged in the school hall. All participants deserve a pat on the back as it was a very joyous event. This choir of talented singers, under the direction of Miss Deacy, filled the hall with the glorious sound of carols such as "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger".

The first year students, who enacted the nativity, reminded us all of the real meaning of Christmas. They were Lindsay Bourke and Jenny Bourke as Mary and Joseph; Megan Mc Loughlin, Leanne O'Hora and Lorna Gallagher as the three kings; Lynda Quinn and Louise McCafferty as shephards; Simone Grant as an angel and Karen Staunton brought gifts. Sarah Winters, Caroline Walkin, Pamela O'Hora, Hazel Roache, Kim O'Hora, Anne Reddington, Clair Tighe, Sandra Marshe, Kelly Anne O'Shaughnessy and Olivia Ruane, all second year students, performed a liturgical dance with the theme - peace. Students from third year and sixth year respectively recited the prayers of the faithful and readings. Some students from fifth year enacted a play telling the story of a man waiting for God to visit him but he did not recognise Him in the poor people who came to his tavern in search of food and shelter. There was a lesson in this play for each one of us and I hope we learned it. Sr. Attracta finished by expressing her thanks to the teachers and students involved on behalf of the entire school.

Foreign Exchange

On the 27th of January 1999 nineteen students from our school and two teachers travelled to Leige in Belgium on the school's fifth successful foreign exchange with College Saint Louis in Liege in Belgium. The group hoped to acquire a taste for the unique culture of Belgium as well as improving their French!

In September 1998, a group of twenty Belgian students visited Ballina for nine days. They were entertained by the girls from St Mary's at various events such as the Irish night and trips to the Céide Fields and the Foxford Woollen Mills. The students enjoyed their stay immensely and found the Irish people very "welcoming".

Bon Voyage girls!

In November 1998 Hurricane Mitch ravaged central America, killing thounsands and destroying hundreds of homes.In response to the recent requests from the Honduran and Nicaraguan people for aid from Europe the students of St. Mary's Secondary School rallied round in order to provide whatever help they could possibly offer.

During Advent the students undertook 'the Nicaraguan Disaster Building Fund' as their project. The aim of this project was to raise money to provide funds for Orla Bourke to enable her to buy materials and pay for the construction of new houses for the Nicaraguan people.

Orla Bourke, a past pupil of St Mary's Secondary School, has been working extremely hard in Nicaraga helping victims of the disaster to rebuild their homes and improve their living conditions.

Orla, who is based in a small town near the city of Leon, sent an e-mail earlier this month.

In order to help Orla, the students set about deciding how they would raise the urgently needed funds.

For their first effort the girls, with the help of Sr. Breeda Leonard, organised a monster raffle within the school. Along with the help of the first year students who sold the raffle tickets, the total sum collected came to approximately £2500, with a further £500 pledged in donations.

For the next step in raising the money, Sr. Breeda Leonard made an appeal on Mid and North West Radio (MWR) for donations and a Furby, which was sponsored by Tesco (Quinnsworth), was also auctioned. The appeal was a great success, raising £2300 and the Furby was finally auctionded at £500. Also within the school, the staff performed in a hilarious Christmas pantomime 'St. Mary's meets the Titanic', which proved very popular with the students. This raised £365 for the fund. Many thanks to teachers, Mrs. Fatima O' Flaherty, Mrs. Bernadette Mc Lean and Mrs. Lena Bourke, who did a 24-hour fast in aid of the fund. Also a big thank you to the Moy Singers who donated £550 which they raised by carol singing.

To date, the total raised has exceeded £5000 and donations are still forthcoming. All donations would be gratefully received.

Ulster Bank 'Nicaraguan Building Fund'

Account No. 85634032.

St. Mary's is proud to announce that a group of girls from the school were chosen to perform on the newly formed talent show " Let Me Entertain You" which will be shown on March 7th this year, on national TV station RTE 1.

This group call themselves "Just Us" and are made up of Aoife Duffy, Jane White, Corinne Beattie, Aoife Bourke, Maria Brady, Grace Murphy and their leader, Aine Egan. They performed a dance routine choreographed by Aine.

"How were they chosen?" you may well ask. Well, they received an application form which they filled in and sent off with photos and a video of their routine. After two auditions they were delighted to discover that they had been chosen, out of 3000 applicants, to be one of 50 finalists to appear on the show.

The school would like to wish the girls all the best in the competition and we hope you'll be watching!!!

St. Mary's Secondary School are presenting the musical "South Pacific" later this year. The original score was written by Richard Rogers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. It is a well renowned broadway musical which takes place on two islands during World War II.

All Transition Year and Second Year pupils are joined by members of the staff in staging this show. As usual Sr. Attracta will be producing this year's show, while we have a new musical director this year; Ms. Deacy.

We hope it will be as successful as our previous musicals.

Each year the teachers at St. Mary's Secondary school stage a pantomime in aid of charity. This year's theme was Titanic with a twist. Miss Browne stepped into the leading role of Rose Thornton while Mr. Brady starred alongside her in the romantic lead of Jack Dawson.

Mrs. Wynne made a cameo as old Rose, revealing her secret identity and past, as the lover of now famous artist Jack Dawson. The scene is set on the Titanic where Transition Year students Miss Boyce, Miss Holian, Miss Browne (Rose) and Miss Cullen are going on a cruise to America. Jack and his friend (Frau Reibisch) manages to cajole 2 tickets for steerage and sets about his mission to rescue Rose from the evil clutches of Cal (Mrs. Downs). The rest of the plot mirrors the million dollar movie, including a low budget version of the "Jack, I'm flying" scene, with Rose balancing on the edge of a table and Mr. Brady whispering in her ear. There were a few deviations from the script, such as a diet coke break, courtesy of a topless John Langan, a Riverdance extravaganza, performed by Miss Deacy and Miss Curnyn and a cameo appearance by Michael Jackson (Sr.Ann!)!!! The Culleens Fairy also revisited for the second year running.

£365 was raised from the Pantomime and was donated to Orla Bourke, a past pupil of the school, who is now involved in charity work in Nicaragua.

Three years ago , on Valentine's Day, the students and youth group of Amnesty international was established here in the school. Every Tuesday, the group meets for lunch and an informative session on the working of Amnesty world wide is held.

The group act as an awareness to raise the importance of human right issues and help out whatever campaign is currently supported by Amnesty.

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, the student and youth group of St. Mary's organised a signature collection to support the declaration. They collected 3890 signatures, which surpassed their target of 2000 signatures.

As well as this, they marked the event with a display of Human Rights posters which were created by the first year students. These posters are on display throughout the school. A sale of Amnesty merchandise was also held in the school.

This year our Senior and Cadet Basketball teams entered two competitions; the Mayo league - which the Cadets won last year and the S.B.A.I. league.

The season started with a match against Banada Abbey on home ground in Scoil Pádraig. We knew victory would be no easy task, as two members of the Banada team play National League Basketball. Unfortunately they proved to be the better side and our Cadets lost. The Seniors however, performed better in a more entertaining game and were victorious in their efforts.

Cadets: Banada 37 - Ballina 24

Seniors: Banada 40 - Ballina 53

The next series of matches was held in our own school hall against the Lacken Cross Senior and Cadet teams and Moyne College's Seniors. Despite an impressive performance, our Cadets were unable to overpower the stronger Lacken Cross team. Once again however, our Seniors succeeded in defeating both Moyne College and Lacken Cross Seniors - no mean feat!

Seniors:

Lacken 20 - Ballina 60

Moyne C. 12 - Ballina 57

The schools first away match was in An Sportlann, Castlebar, against St. Joseph's College, Castlebar. It was a disappointing day as both our Cadet and Senior teams were beaten. The Seniors were beaten by only 3 points (48-45) but the Cadets were beaten by considerably more.

The next two games were also away matches and were held in Killala Community Centre. We played Ballycastle Convent of Mercy at Cadet level and Belmullet Convent of Mercy at Senior level. The Cadets put on a spectacular show against the experienced opposition and managed to gain a 3 point victory over the Ballycastle team. The Seniors also had a glorious victory against the Bellmullet seniors - the final score being 38-26.

Ballinrobe was the scene of our next victory, with both the Seniors and Cadets winning their matches. The Cadets were first on the court and proved too strong for the Ballinrobe women, beating them 30 -17 in a fine exhibition of basketball. The Seniors too, followed in their footsteps with a final score of 42-36.

Our next match was staged, once again, in Killala Community Centre. Our Cadets played St. Patrick's College, Lacken Cross for the second time and this time were victorious . The Seniors played Stella Maris Secondary School, Ballycastle in the Mayo League Semi - Finals beating them 35 -31. The Seniors are now through to the Mayo Finals in Castlebar.

We played Sligo Mercy on the same day with a terrific display of basketball by all, winning 57 - 42. Last week the seniors played Oranmore, Co.Galway in an away match. Unfortunately, they were beaten. The seniors are also through to the All-Ireland finals in Limerick in February. Good luck girls!