Recently we went for a visit to Galway because our film League of Skeletons was being shown at the Galway Junior Film Festival. We watched movies from other schools and got our picture taken. There were many great films shown. Afterwards our teacher brought us on a walking tour of Galway. First we went to Eyre square.

In 1631 it was a market area. It was officially presented to the city in 1710 by Mayor Edward Eyre but it was named John F Kennedy memorial park when JFK, president of America at this time, made a speech on his visit to Galway in 1963, only a few months before he was shot.

We went to the shopping centre and saw part of the original city walls. We also saw a building with limestone walls. Then we saw a building called Lynch’s castle. The Lynches were one of the fourteen merchant families who dominated the life of Galway city between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. That’s why Galway is known as the city of the tribes. On the roof of Lynch’s castle were stone heads of monsters. Their mouths were open so when the rain hit the roof it would flow through a pipe and out their mouths. There was also a statue of a stone monkey. This was there because once when a fire broke out in Lynch’s castle and everyone got out except one infant, Lynch’s pet monkey climbed in the window and saved the child.

We went inside The King’s Head pub and saw the huge stone fireplaces. It is called The King’s Head because when the king of England, King Charles 1, was to be executed in 1649, a man from Galway called Gunning was sent to execute him. This was because English people didn’t want an English man killing the king of England. So with an axe, Gunning chopped off the king’s head. As a reward he was given the King’s Head pub and some land in Galway. The novel, I Coriander, we are reading at school is set in the time of King Charles. It is set just after he was executed.

We then went to Saint Nicolas’ church. Oliver Cromwell once invaded the church with his men. They used the butts of their rifles to deface the statues. Only one statue (where Cromwell’s men tied up their horses) was unharmed. A mark in the floor can be seen where the horses were tied up.

Outside the church is a monument with an engraving of the Claddagh ring. Barthomelew Fallon made the first Claddagh ring in 1700. Next we saw the home of Walter Lynch. Above the door was a skull and cross-bones. This was because in 1649 his own father sentenced him to death because he murdered a friendly Spanish merchant called Gomez who was having an affair with his girlfriend. Lynch was hung out of a window just above the skull and cross-bones. In 1477, Christopher Columbus visited Galway possibly on a voyage to Iceland or the Faroe Islands. We saw the River Corrib. It flows fast and is very deep. It powered most of the industry in Galway many years ago. There were about twenty water wheels built on the river Corrib. We had a great day and learned a lot.

Before Easter, we went to the Odeon cinema in Limerick. Our film (League of Skeletons) was shortlisted from 400 entries for the Fresh Film Festival. Only 38 were shown in the cinema. We left at 7:15am on a bus. The journey took approximately 2 hours but we were delayed because of road works. On the way, we saw Thomond Park, the home of Munster rugby, and the River Shannon. When we got to the cinema we bought sweets and went to the toilet. We sat down in the cinema. We missed 3 or 4 movies because of the road works. There were many great films and two breaks. We won an award for best CGI effects (computer generated images). We got a plaque and our photo taken. On the way home we went to Supermacs to eat. We had a great day out. Watch our film below:

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Credits:
Martin Luther King recording (Joseph & Jamie, 4th class)
RBS commentary (Adam & Lorna, 3rd class)
Lion King trailer (Megan & Grace, 3rd class)

Photos (Justin & Rachel, 6th class)
First presenter (Thomas, 5th class)
Second presenter (Megan, 3rd class)
Third presenter (Joseph, 4th class)
Group at end (Conal, Justin, Enda, Rebecca, Amy, Rachel, Marie, 6th class)

Kim Kardashian animation (Amy, 6th class)
Zaha animation (Justin, 6th class)
Waxwing animation (Grace, 3rd class with help from Justin, 6th class)

‘Job Done’, based on a short story earlier in the year by James and Patrick in sixth class, is our five-minute film for FÍS 2011.  We are very grateful to James and Sandra Hession for the use of their home and all the cups of tea!  Best of luck to Patrick, James, Mollie and Toni who start secondary school in September.

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A sincere thank you to the parents for their help with costumes and props, to all the children for their hard work and great performance and to Shane for taking the video.  Happy Christmas to you all.

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