Time to Read – The Icing on the Cake
Two primary schools in Cork, Scoil Mhuire Fatima & Scoil Aiséirí Chríost, marked the completion of a wonderful year in a special way with Bord Gáis.
The impact of Time to Read was palpable on Thursday the 22nd of May when ten boys from Scoil Mhuire Fatima in Cork and ten girls from the neighboring Scoil Aiséirí Chríost, descended on Bord Gáis HQ for a VIP tour and to meet their reading buddies for the final time.
So much has happened over the year, the hesitant children who first met their volunteers in October are now bursting with pride and confidence. Every child was presented with a scroll listing all of the books they read over the year and many were re-read again and again. The children gave a spontaneous round of applause when asked if they enjoyed the programme, and again when asked if they liked reading.
The tour was the icing on the cake, indeed the girls brought a lovely book cake to say ‘thanks’ to Bord Gáis and the boys made placemats to eat it off. The students then toured the storehouse, sat in the control room and gazed in awe at the ‘red button’ that could cut off the nation’s gas supply – it was, in reality, the fire alarm in the kitchen, but the children had great imaginations!
Final good-byes were said over lunch in the board room where the children practiced for their future careers by declaring ‘you’re fired’ to each other and swiveling in the executive chairs. All the volunteers joined us and the children were so excited to be given a voucher for Easons, which they all declared would be spent on books!
Thank you Bord Gáis and the staff at Scoil Mhuire Fatima and Scoil Aiséirí Chríost for making all of this happen and for leaving a lifelong impact on the Time to Read children.
Photos: Top to Bottom; Children from Scoil Mhuire Fatima & Scoil Aiséirí Chríost sit in the board room of Bord Gáis and below is the amazing book cake from the girls.
