Latest news with #StPeter'sCollege
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Kenneth Bloomfield, central figure in Northern Ireland's civil service who survived IRA attack
Born in Belfast on April 15, 1931, to English parents, he received his secondary education at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution in the city centre. He went on to study modern history at St Peter's College, Oxford, and joined the civil service in 1952. He was appointed in 1956 as private secretary to then finance minister at Stormont, Captain Terence O'Neill, who later served as the North's prime minister from 1963 to 1969 and famously hosted a visit by then taoiseach Seán Lemass to Belfast in February 1965. Following the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s, elections to a Northern Ireland Assembly were held on June 28, 1973, and talks on power-sharing subsequently took place at Sunningdale in Berkshire, between parties from the North. Under the Sunningdale Agreement of November 21, 1973, a power-sharing executive based on voluntary coalition was established, as well as a cross-border Council of Ireland involving the Irish Government. Bloomfield said he accepted Sinn Féin's presence in government notwithstanding the attack on his life With Bloomfield as its permanent secretary, the cross-party administration had its first meeting on New Year's Day 1974. The Ulster Unionist Party leader at the time, Brian Faulkner, was chief executive, with his Social Democratic and Labour Party counterpart Gerry Fitt as deputy chief executive and Fitt's party colleague John Hume as commerce minister, with Alliance leader Oliver Napier as legal minister and head of the office of law reform. However, there was deep unhappiness within the UUP over the agreement, particularly the cross-border body, and this led to Faulkner's resignation as party leader. He continued as power-sharing chief executive, but the Sunningdale Agreement collapsed because of the Ulster Workers' Council strike in May 1974, which lasted 14 days, with loyalist paramilitaries playing a prominent role. Bloomfield later served as permanent secretary at the Department of the Environment and the Department of Economic Development. On December 1, 1984, he became head of the Northern Ireland civil service and was the most senior adviser on a variety of issues to successive British secretaries of state. In 1987, he became Sir Kenneth Bloomfield after being appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB). On September 12, 1988, he was subjected, along with his wife and one of their children, to an IRA bomb attack at their family home in Crawfordsburn, Co Down, but none of them was physically injured. Almost 19 years later, on August 23, 2007, at the Merriman Summer School in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare, when a power-sharing administration in the North was headed by the Reverend Ian Paisley of the DUP and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, Bloomfield said he accepted Sinn Féin's presence in government notwithstanding the attack on his life. ADVERTISEMENT As I grow older, I care less and less which flag is flown and which anthem is played where I live 'I do not find the idea of some form of Irish unity or closer association — almost certainly after my time — in any way unthinkable in principle. But what is conceivably acceptable in principle would have to be mutually acceptable in practice,' he said. Offering a 'very personal perspective', he added: 'As I grow older, I care less and less which flag is flown and which anthem is played where I live.' He retired from the civil service in April 1991 and subsequently became a member of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains. Bloomfield also received honorary doctorates from Queen's University Belfast, the Open University and the University of Ulster. He was appointed to the chair of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission and his alma mater, the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. n December 1997 he was invited by then secretary of state Mo Mowlam to become the Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner for a fixed term, which resulted in a report on issues concerning victims of the Troubles entitled We Will Remember Them, which was published in April 1998. He was the BBC's National Governor for Northern Ireland from 1991 to 1999. Kenneth Bloomfield died on May 30. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, whom he married in September 1960 and their two children, Caroline and Tanya, formerly called Timothy, who is transgender and has spoken warmly of the support she received from her parents in that regard.
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Southern Catholic Secondary Schools Junior Winter Tournament
Photo: Peter McIntosh Photo: Peter McIntosh Dimpho Tiou (left), of Trinity Catholic College, attempts to evade Sophia Talaese, of Verdon College. Photo: Peter McIntosh Ace De la Cruz, of St Peter's College, warms up for his basketball match yesterday. Tilly Murch (left), of Verdon College, and Elsie Anderson, of Trinity Catholic College, compete for the ball in the Southern Catholic Secondary Schools Junior Winter Tournament at the Edgar Centre yesterday. The tournament, hosted by Trinity Catholic College, also featured students from Verdon College, St Kevin's College, and St Peter's College. Netball and basketball were held at the Edgar Centre, rugby at Kettle Park and hockey at the McMillan Turf.
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Life-changing adventure for one
One Gore teenager went bounding outward with Outward Bound, bringing home some incredible memories and lessons she will cherish for a long time. Isabel Dickson, 16, attends St Peter's College and was spurred on by her mum to either pick a team sport, or head away for a natural retreat. Given the choice, and considering her previous experience with a sailing course, Isabel said she thought it was a good idea to spend some time Outward Bound. "I'd already been on something similar and I heard Outward Bound was supposed to be a life-changing thing. "It seemed versatile, that it pushed you, so I thought it sounded good," she said. After funding through selling shirts, saving money, a cheeky donation from the Mataura Licensing Trust and of course a bit of help from her parents, the course was in sight. Isabel would spend 21 days based primarily in Anakiwa pushing her limits in the great outdoors. Alongside the other Outward Bound members, she sailed, trained, hiked, kayaked and became very familiar with New Zealand's nature. Isabel said one of her favourite memories was getting out on to the water, with some fantastic sights. "My favourite was the sailing — there was a lot of cool wildlife. We saw dolphins, harmless jellyfish you could swim with. "When it got dark there was bioluminescence in the water, so that was really cool," she said. It was not just fun in the outdoors, as Isabel said she gained a lot of insight into herself and a new way of pushing forward into the world. "You learned to be a lot more social and confident, you're living with 13 other strangers. It pushes you a wee bit. "A lot of patience, you don't know what you'll do every day so instead of thinking forwardly, you're thinking in the now," she said. Isabel said the mixture of challenging tasks and workshops have changed the way she will go out into the world and now looks out with a greater confidence. "It's just good. You shouldn't be scared to be who you are," she said. Even her fear of heights was challenged, but luckily Isabel said she was not facing the challenge alone. "Basically we did like cliff jumping, it was just a little bit shorter. It pushed me out of my comfort zone," she said. "But having everyone support you, so when you do go out of your comfort zone everyone's there to help,"Isabel thanked everyone who helped her get to Outward Bound, with grants given by the Mataura Licensing Trust, who gave $6000 to get Isabel to the life changing course. The River Valley Lions, Pakeke Lions, the Rotary Club, Gore RSA, and the Waikaka Hey-day committee also gave a "huge amount" to help out, alongside other businesses.
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Students make up for canteen loss
After the loss of their school canteen, a group of industrious Gore students have seen a gap in the market, selling cheese rolls for charity and school credit. As part of their business studies class, a group of St Peter's College year 12 and 13s have been selling cheese rolls every Wednesday, at morning tea and lunch, and donating the proceeds to charity. The school's canteen used to be run by staff of Rosmini House, the hostel on campus, which closed down last year due to a declining roll. When the hostel closed, the tuck shop went with it, and now students Tori Pont, Nia Robertson, Makayla Taylor and Addi McHaffie are serving southern delicacies to the school's students and teachers. Commerce, economics, business and agribusiness studies teacher Will Byars said the way his students could get around the rules of being able to sell food on campus was to treat the catering as a fundraising drive and donate the money to The Cancer Society. "They've got some financial and social goals around that," he said. The young entrepreneurs were part of a combined class who he said had a particularly "good batch" of businesses this year. He said his student Millie McFadzien was working with Waituna Eel and making eel pate, which she would be serving as an entree at the Southland Business Excellence Awards next month. Another group had the "innovative idea" of a "basketball cube", which was all about improving shooting technique for young basketballers. The business ideas are also part of the national Young Enterprise scheme competition, which is a charity-funded programme that fosters and provides mentoring for business ideas of senior high school students for a year. Next week, the students, along with other schools across Southland, will be heading to Invercargill to do a five-minute pitch of their ideas to Southland Business Chamber members. "They're going to talk about their marketing plan, so it's quite daunting for them to talk to other adults about their idea," Mr Byars said. As students and some teachers lined up for the lunchtime rush, Addi said it could be stressful when everyone comes out as once and they had to go fast, but it was not too bad, as they split the jobs evenly between four of them. In an organised operation, she said they made the rolls the day before and prepared the ham and cheese toasties, which sold for $2 each. They had just started selling sherbert fizzes also. Their goal was to make $500 per term — but they had only been going for three weeks and were yet to crunch the numbers, she said. Mr Byars said he was going to make sure they did their banking and knew their profit margin for the week. Food technology teacher Lisa Perkins, who was popping in on the girls' activities, said they were doing a great job. "They are following all the food safety standards which is good," she said.
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Get ready for St Peter's ‘Oliver!'
Maxwell Terry, 11, and Cecelia Ryan, 12, will be starring in the St Peter's College production of Oliver! Jr next week. PHOTO: ELLA SCOTT-FLEMING St Peter's College will be delivering a slightly slimmed down version of the 1960 musical, entitled Oliver Jr!, based on Victorian Charles Dickens' novel, Oliver Twist. School teacher Brendan Terry, who is co-directing the play with fellow teacher Victoria Kelly, said the play came from the company Musical Theatre International, which does shorter versions of musicals for children. Instead of running for two and a-half hours the show runs for about an hour and 20 minutes, he said, but still includes all the elements of the original stage show, including its famous show-tunes, just shortened slightly. Mr Terry said his students were "really enthused", which he was pleased with, as chances for young people to be part of production like this in Gore were rare. "The opportunities for that, there's not so many locally. "So when they do pop up, especially the kids who are really into it, just gravitate towards it quickly," he said. He said teachers from different departments had all pitched in, hand-making the show's sets, props and costumes and all of the costume work had been done by head of English Lee-Anne Kortbaoui. She had done an amazing job, he said, of creating the shabby Victorian-era costumes, even sourcing old recycled school uniforms for the drab orphanage scene, where the famous line "Please sir, can I have some more?" will be uttered. The line will be delivered by the cast's Oliver Twist, Maxwell Terry, 11. The show also stars Cecilia Ryan, 12, playing the roles of orphan and Nipper. Mr Terry said the show's leads were strong, but the company was working together really well. Younger, smaller year 7, 8 and 9s, made up Fagin's "gang", bringing a lot of playful energy to their roles, he said. The year 11s, who were very strong actors, held their scenes and helped drive the plot, he said. Ms Kelly was more in charge of the choreography and musical direction while Mr Terry said he looked after the directing, acting side of things. The musical theatre company provides the script, score and backing tracks for the shows, as well as examples of choreography and vocals, that students can access online to practise at home. Technology teacher Juliet Sorrel, alongside teacher-aide and technician Duncan McAllister, were working on the sets. Guidance counsellor Catherine Baldock and teacher Lisa Perkins were looking after props. The newly employed arts co-ordinator Kim Salmond McKechie has been posting promotional videos on the school's social media, while administrator Amy-Rae Rooijackers was doing whatever was thrown at her, Mr Terry said. The collective enthusiasm can be seen June 4 and 5 at the Saint James Theatre. Tickets are available at the school office, from $15. Curtains open at 7.30pm.
