Public Viewing of Pres Castleisland’s OsKaRs Movies on Thursday from 7:30pm

Presentation Castleisland Principal Pierce Dargan (left) receiving an honorary OsKaR for entrepreneurship and innovation from teacher Kevin Moore at the OsKaRs cast viewing of the seven films at Browne’s Bar on Saturday evening. Photograph: John Reidy

During his days as business teacher at Presentation Castleisland, Pierce Dargan was an inspirational leader to his students.

The Kilkenny native even brought a slice of his own county’s famous hurling culture to bear on an All-Ireland winning enterprise presentation in Dublin by a group of pupils under his guidance.

As the spring of 2018 turned to summer, the team from The Pres headed to the National Student Enterprise Awards Final in Croke Park and returned in triumph as the best in Ireland in their category.

Category Toppers

They entered the competition’s junior category with their ‘Complete Camán’ and, after a nervous wait, they were declared overall class winners and won an Awareness of Intellectual Property Award also as a category topper.

Their winning product involved a sliothar attached to a hurley with a length of string which encouraged the learning of the skills of the game and the relationship between the ball and the camán.

That was then. On Saturday night in the function room of Browne’s Bar here in Castleisland there was a gathering of the people who took part in last month’s filming of the ‘Night of the OsKaRs’ fundraising event for Presentation Castleisland.

Planning and Execution

In the planning and execution of this entire event the same Mr. Dargan’s innate gift of entrepreneurship surfaced to the extent that he brought whole swathes of the community here together for a common purpose and for an occasion that has been and still is the talk of the town.

Saturday night’s event was convened to allow the casts of the seven films to meet up and view the fruits of their spring-time rehearsals and filming at the hands of Kevin Rowe Enterprises.

The majority of the casts were present at the big gala night at The Great Southern Hotel in Killarney.

Barely Tapped Talent

For the handful of us viewing the films for the first time – it was a revelation, a pleasure and a reminder that hill and valley around here are dripping with a barely tapped wealth of talent of all ages.

And the whole OsKaRs escapade is being compared to the highly competitive and creative days of the Tops-of-the-Town by those who remember.

For those who don’t the Castleisland Community Centre stands as a monument to the generation of locals whose cash, talent, time and toil put it there.

There are some OsKaR statuettes in reserve for the 2024 round of the hit event and the staff of Pres Castleisland couldn’t let the occasion pass without breaking into the vault and celebrating Mr. Dargan’s initiative. Pres teacher Kevin Moore was appointed to make a presentation to their principal.

Plans in the Pipeline

During his cúpla focal of acceptance Mr. Dargan divulged plans along the lines of what we were all there to celebrate and much more including community pantomimes and musicals.

He also announced that a public viewing of the seven OsKaR films will take place in St. John’s Hall on this Thursday evening, June 1st at 7.30pm and the viewing will be for approximately two hours.

Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Entry: €5 cash on the door.

Please contact the school office to book a seat in advance at 066-7141178 or via email info@presentationcastleisland.ie

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