This article is from page 28 of the 2008-12-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
A LONG-STANDING promise to a school principal in Quin was ful- filled last week when Tomas O Sio- chain, former principal of Scoil na Mainistreach planted an alder tree in memory of his predecessor, Frank Gordon, who was principal of Scoil na Mainistreach in the 1960s.
Frank Gordon was a member of Muintir na Tire and a prominent member of the Fine Gael party. He passed on his love of nature to gener- ations of local schoolchildren and, in recognition of this, one of his pupils, Frances Conroy promised to plant a tree in his memory.
The Green school committee of Scoil na Mainistreach chose to plant this particular tree as 2008 has been designated the year of the alder. Al- ders are sturdy and fast-growing,
even in acidic and damaged sites. They are common to Ireland and can be used as a producer of simple oy (ols eaten
Tomas O Siochain spoke of the links between Frank Gordon and the present Green School Commit- tee in their love for the environment and the promotion of a greener and cleaner community.
Tomas also presented the school with a newspaper article from