Early years student Iofa McGuinness pictured with St Catherine’s P.S. student Bethany McGuigan Crawford at North West Regional College’s Strabane Campus, to celebrate the launch of the annual Hallowe’en Hay Trail. (Martin McKeown).
As part of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s annual Hallowe’en Hay Trail, NWRC’s Early Years students have been working with local school pupils from St Catherine’s, St Mary’s, Strabane Primary School and Gaelscoil Uí Dhochartaigh to create spooky designs.
The event is a part of a wider partnership by the local council who are encouraging community groups, youth groups, farmers and businesses in the Strabane area to take part in this year’s celebrations by creating Halloween themed hay sculptures that will form part of a Halloween Trail in Strabane at this year’s festival.
Pupils from P1-P4 have been working with characters from Helen Nicoll’s ‘Meg and Mog ‘, while the P5-P7 pupils have been drawing inspiration from the book ‘Funny Bones’ by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.
Earlier this week, the children’s designs were put on display across the campus on the Derry Road, with judges delivering their verdict on the winners.
The winning designs from each category will now be turned into the final sculptures by the college’s Joinery students and will be set in the grounds of the NWRC Strabane campus for all the children and their families to come along and view during Hallowe’en.
NWRC Strabane campus manager Gillian Moss said: “This is the second year that NWRC has been involved with the Hallowe’en Hay trail and it just keeps getting bigger and better.
“This has been a fantastic opportunity for staff and students to work with young people and to participate in an event that will involve so many people within the local community.
North West Regional College staff Donna O’Connor, Paddy Stewart, Gillian Moss and Bernie Kerlin pictured at the launch of the 2019 Hallowe’en Hay Sculpture project at Strabane Campus.
“North West Regional College is committed to engaging with young people in the area and we hope to continue working on projects similar to this.
“This is an amazing project which we are once again happy to support and which I have no doubts will add to the excitement of this year’s Halloween celebrations in Strabane.”
Mayor of Derry and Strabane District Council Michaela Boyle said: “Derry City and Strabane District Council are delighted to have NWRC back on board for another year of the Hallowe’en Hay Trail – with the Strabane campus sculptures one of the highlights amongst the eleven different displays scattered throughout the trail.
“It’s fantastic to see the young talent in our community celebrated in such a positive way, and the students at the Strabane campus have done a highly impressive job of bringing the creative designs to life.
Prize winners from St Mary’s’s P.S.: Caoimhe McElduff, Callum McGranaghan and Anthony O’Kane, pictured with NWRC staff at the Hay Sculpture launch at North West Regional College.
The Hay Sculptures are open to members of the public who can come and view the designs during the college’s opening times.
The winning entries were:
Gaelscoil Uí Dhochartaigh
1. Ava McAnneny
2. Sean Rouse
3. Aoife Conway
St Catherine’s
1. Patrick McNamee
2. Bethany McGuigan Crawford
3. Mia McDaid
Strabane Primary School
1. Susannah Lowry
2. Darcy Russell
3. Emilie Walters
St Mary’s P.S.
1. Callum McGranaghan
2. Caoimhe McElduff
3. Anthony O’kane
