Your chance to nominate a Diamond Champion; Cork parishes holiday club; Protestant abuse history has been swept under the carpet; Education Boards publish post-primary plans; GCSEs are here to stay, vows NI Education Minister; Access to gay youth service increased over 250 per cent; Belfast City Council first in Ireland to support gay marriage; National Trust defends Causeway creationist display; Tanaiste’s speech “attack on religious freedom”, says Iona Institute
Your chance to nominate a Diamond Champion
Engage with Age, is working with volunteer charity WRVS on its Diamond Jubilee project which recognises older people throughout the UK who volunteer and help others in their local community. The awards aim to identify and celebrate the work the over 60s do that often remains unnoticed and unsung.
Sixty volunteers for each of the eight regions in the UK will be presented with a specially designed Diamond Champions badge and certificate at a local celebration event in the autumn. From the shortlist, 80 people (10 from each region) will be invited to meet Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall at a royal residence in November.
All volunteers aged 60 or over are eligible to be nominated whoever they volunteer for and an independent panel of judges in each region will be making the final selections
Nomination forms and more information can be found at http://www.wrvs.org.uk/get-involved/diamond-champions.
For more information please contact Margy Washbrook, Manager at Engage With Age margy.washbrook@engagewithage.org.uk or 028 90 649 649.
Cork parishes holiday club
A ‘CHAMPIONS!’ themed Holiday Club Day was held on Wednesday 4th July in St Mary’s Church Hall, Carrigaline for children of Carrigaline Union and Templebreedy Group of parishes. Several Teen Leaders from both parishes helped out on the day. Both of the Rectors (the Revd Isobel Jackson and the Revd Elaine Murray) had held week long Holiday Clubs in their previous parishes in the Diocese of Cashel & Ossory and this one day club was to test the Cork waters for this type of activity. Suffice to say that next year the two parishes will be holding a joint 5 day Holiday Club as some of the children were heard to say when being picked up by their parents ‘But we WANT to come back tomorrow!’
http://churchofirelandcork.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/image-1.jpg
Protestant abuse history has been swept under the carpet
Irish Examiner – We put on our hats on a Sunday morning and march off to church with faith in our hearts and smiles on our faces. … Me, born in the 1960s in Dublin, Church of Ireland — never saw a bit of child abuse. Children were respected in my tradition. Cared for.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/guest-columnist/protestant-abuse-history-has-been-swept-under-the-carpet-brby-victoria-white-199687.html
Education Boards publish post-primary plans
BBC – Northern Ireland’s five education boards publish plans for the future of post-primary schools.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18712951
GCSEs are here to stay, vows NI Education Minister
Belfast Telegraph – Education Minister John O’Dowd has ruled out a move away from GCSEs despite Westminster counterpart Michael Gove wanting to scrap the exams.
Mr O’Dowd discussed plans to end GCSEs and introduce a two-tier system where some pupils sit an O-level-style exam while others sit an exam similar to the old CSEs at a meeting with Welsh Education Minister Leighton Andrews.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/gcses-are-here-to-stay-vows-education-minister-john-odowd-16181259.html
Access to gay youth service increased over 250 per cent in three years
The Journal.ie – There’s been an overall increase of 264 per cent in young people accessing the BeLongTo services between 2008 and 2011.
BeLongTo, a national organisation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people delivers youth work services, awareness campaigns and training for people who work with young people.
The launch of the group’s annual report for 2011 has revealed that there was an increase of 28 per cent in young people accessing its services last year, while the age profile of those seeking its services has also dropped with youth workers now providing support to LGBT people and their families at 12-13 years of age
http://www.thejournal.ie/access-to-gay-youth-service-increased-over-250-per-cent-in-three-years-509793-Jul2012/
Belfast City Council first in Ireland to support gay marriage…but unionists walk out before vote
Belfast Telegraph – Belfast City Council has become the first local authority in Ireland to pass a motion in support of gay marriage.
It was passed by 21 Sinn Fein and SDLP votes to zero — Unionists walked out before the vote, while all Alliance councillors except one abstained.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/belfast-city-council-first-in-ireland-to-support-gay-marriagebut-unionists-walk-out-before-vote-16180935.html
National Trust defends Causeway creationist display
Newsletter – The National Trust has defended its decision to include references to creationist theory at a new state-of-the-art visitors’ centre at the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
The move was hailed by a Christian group which said the gesture “both respects and acknowledges an alternative viewpoint” on the origins of the earth.
But after facing criticism for including theories that the planet is only 6,000 years old, the Trust said it had merely acknowledged the presence of such views and was committed to scientific evidence on the origins of the Causeway.
The issue of including creationist theories has sparked controversy in the past in Northern Ireland, when prominent members of the Democratic Unionist Party at Stormont lobbied for museums to include such opinions.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/trust-defends-causeway-creationist-display-1-4025804
Tanaiste’s speech “attack on religious freedom”, says Iona Institute
Ci News – A speech by Eamon Gilmore calling for same-sex marriage and the removal of faith from politics has been described as, “an attack on religious freedom,” by the Iona Institute.
The speech, made on Sunday to Labour’s Tom Johnson Summer School, suggested that, “the separation of Church and state,” means that the Government is obliged to legislate for same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research.
Commenting on the speech, Dr John Murray of The Iona Institute said today, “Religious freedom has to include the freedom to fully participate in the public and political life of the country as religious believers. It does not mean that religious believers must put their religion to one side when they enter the public square. That is the opposite of religious freedom.”
http://www.cinews.ie/article.php?artid=10420