The Day We Met The President
The Sea Pole Memorial was unveiled today in Red Island Skerries by our President, Mr Michael D. Higgins.
The pole was originally used to help sailors in ships that fell into difficulty. When a vessel ran into trouble rescuers on the shore would climb to the top and, using a rocket, fire a rope to the stricken craft. The sailors would secure the rope after which a harness would be sent over to haul the men to shore. But with time this 16 ft pole with climbing rungs fell out of use and into disrepair. It was removed by the council a number of years ago. Local people worked very hard to have the pole reinstated. Today it became a centerpiece of a memorial which may have the longest list of names of people lost at sea.
Nine pupils from our school joined with children from other local schools to read out some of these names. Well done to Atlanta, Ava and Emilia from Sylvia’s class, Glen and Elod from Conor’s class, Brooklyn and Juliette from Cian’s class, Denis from Joanne’s class and Joseph from Deirdre’s class.
We are proud of you all. Well done for representing our school so well!