President opens Ballymore community preschool

Flashing blue lights, and a big black car heralded the arrival in Ballymore of Uachtarán na hÉireann, Mary McAleese, on Friday morning. The route in from the main road to the president's destination – the snazzy new preschool at Market Hill – is around a large green, which allowed the president and her entourage plenty of time to take in the razzmatazz, and admire the enthusiasm of the local primary school children, who hopped from leg to leg with excitement, and rattled their tricolours in the air in anticipation as they heralded the arrival of this Very Important Visitor. Not immediately visible, for they were tidily lined up in their smart red tops on tot-sized chairs in the preschool garden, were the children who attend the preschool. They knew Someone Important was coming, but the fact that they were part of history – among the first Ballymore people ever to see an Irish president visit their village – went over their heads. That's not all that went over their heads: so too did a couple of hundred balloons in the Ballymore colours - green and yellow - set free after the president finished planting a tree on the preschool lawn. Also present was a large number of parents, residents, and dignitaries, who were delighted at being able to get up close to the visitor and her husband, Dr. Martin McAleese. After a tour of the preschool, where they spoke to staff, and enjoyed cakes baked by Frances Cunningham, as well as admiring a special celebration cake baked by Ruth Rooke, the president and her husband headed to the rear of the preschool, where in front of a large crowd of guests, the president unveiled a plaque marking the occasion. The wind caused some ominous creaking within the marquees where the president was speaking, but the struts held the canvas in place, to the relief of the committee. In her speech to those gathered for the unveiling, the president started in Irish, and to their response that they were “go maith†when she asked how they were, she responded: “Tá sibh i bhfad níos fearr ná ‘go maith': tá sibh ar fheabhas!†(You're a lot better than ‘good'; you're wonderful). “Look at what you've achieved!†she continued, remarking how the germ of an idea had grown to fruition, before going on to commend the work done by people volunteering within their own communities, and praising the love of community and the love of children that had gone into securing the preschool. “There's no pensions, no bonuses, no P45s: that is the great thing about volunteers, they never get made redundant!†she joked. Describing the preschool as “an amazing buildingâ€, she said it was a “lovely, happy, homely place to go intoâ€, and that there was a lovely atmosphere, with qualified staff, meaning it was a place in which anyone would be happy to leave their children. “We don't give our children over to the care of others without thinking very long and very hard,†she pointed out, as she went on to speak of the importance to parents of good childcare facilities. Dale Greenwood, chairperson of the preschool committee, reminded those present that when Ballymore's preschool was started ten years earlier in the local primary school, no-one could have imagined this new facility, and he expressed thanks to all those involved at every step of the process. Nora Whyte, responding to the president's comments, on behalf of the preschool committee, thanked the president and Dr. McAleese for their visit, and she said that the provision of the preschool building could not have come about but for the determination and hard work of Dale Greenwood and Betty Nally. To thank the president for visiting Ballymore, two local children presented flowers, and a copy of the history book “Under the Shadow of Uisneachâ€, written by residents of Ballymore, Boher and Killare in the late 1990s. The children who made the presentation were Evan Allen and Sarah Conlon.