OFFICIAL OPENING OF HALYRUDE PRIMARY SCHOOL
HALYRUDE PRIMARY SCHOOL, PEEBLES
ADDRESS BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN
WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2011
It gives me great pleasure to be here this morning at the official opening of Halyrude Primary School in this wonderful new building here in Rosetta Road. Indeed there is a sense in which the community of the school are coming home for it was on this very road that the original St. Josephs Catholic School was established in 1865. For over 100 years this single room served the parish of St. Joseph’s and the whole of Peebleshire from Walkerburn in the east, West Linton to the West and Eddleston to the North of the town. Over the years it acquired a folding partition, outside toilets and two huts, until it moved in 1974 to the Halyrude School building near the Cross Kirk in Old Church Road with a roll of 82. The old St. Josephs school is still in use today as a community and parish centre and a reminder of the very beginning when the parish priest conducted the school himself.
And now 146 years later, we find ourselves in this wonderful refurbished building which provides the school with 6 classrooms, a learning support room, a large gym, a dining hall, a gathering space (now to be known as St. Joseph’s), offices, meeting rooms, disabled access, new heating and electrical systems, double glazing, a spacious playground and games field.
We share a number of rooms in this marvellous facility with the Integrated Children’s Services and look forward to the former school nursery being occupied during the Autumn of this year.
It is not by chance that we gather here today on September 14th as today is the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross; no better day to celebrate the opening of a Catholic School with the name of Halyrude. Long may it continue to proclaim the Triumph of the Cross in the way it witnesses to its unique mission and role as a Roman Catholic School here in the Borders.
Along with my advisers in the field of education, I welcome the review recently announced of the four Roman Catholic primary schools in the Borders. We are all aware of particular difficulties in recent years – I myself, along with my advisers in the field of education, look forward to co-operating fully with the review group. I share the welcome given to the review by our Education Director, Glenn Rodger, and I quote his words: “That Roman Catholic children are not disadvantaged must be the number one priority”.
Such facilities as we now enjoy in Halyrude are so welcome and necessary as Church and Council work together in a spirit of partnership to ensure that Catholic Education flourishes, as it always has done, in the Borders. I would like to thank all those involved in bringing this project to completion, the staff of Borders Council, in particular Graeme Currie, the project Manager, Alan Vannan the Headteacher Consultant, Ian Sharpe the architect, Mc Laughlin and Harvey the contractors and Gareth Dale the Contract Manager.
Special thanks too to the staff, past and present of Halyrude, to the parent community, the local clergy and to the pupils for making the transition to the new building such a joyful and happy experience. I think particularly of Jim Fitzgerald who was at the helm while the refurbishment was taking place and who helped ensure the smooth transition over many months under very challenging circumstances as Head teacher of two Catholic Schools so far from each other.
I personally thank also our local Dean and Parish Priest of Peebles, Canon John Creanor, as also our resident priest in Peebles, Father Robert Machingura, who have both given me very great help and support. And I depend so much also on my own Religious Education Office at our Pastoral Centre in Edinburgh, with Mrs Brid O’Brien at its head, as Director of Religious Education, and her own team of valiant workers.
I add now a very special thanks to Mrs Kate Brown, the Headteacher here in Halyrude, along with her dedicated members of staff and the pupils who have welcomed us so warmly and entertained us so beautifully. Without them and without the support of their parents, families and friends, we would not have a Halyrude RC Primary School here in Peebles at all. May you all indeed benefit from these wonderful new facilities which have been provided here in Peebles.
I now turn my attention to the St. Joseph’s Centre, this gathering space at the heart of the school and I am delighted to now declare it open and I dedicate it and place it under the patronage of St Joseph, having been so close to Jesus throughout his life on earth, we pray that St Joseph will lead us all ever closer to the life, love and standards of Jesus Christ himself.