Fáilte Isteach is celebrating its first year

Students and volunteer tutors from Fáilte Isteach Kilcoole celebrated the project’s first birthday recently with a get together in Kilcoole Community Centre.

Fáilte Isteach Kilcoole is an innovative conversational English language project run by Bray Area Partnership, and a welcome recent addition to the two original projects the Partnership has been running in the Bray area for the past eight years.

The idea of Fáilte Isteach is that people from the local community volunteer their time to teach practical conversational English to people from other countries who live and work in their area – thus increasing their capacity to take part more fully in society and access further education or employment. The word Fáilte describes the spirit of the project – welcome to our community. Classes are free and take place through friendly small group conversations over a cup of tea.

‘Fáilte Isteach Kilcoole has been a great success’, said Lorna Lafferty from Bray Area Partnership, ‘with 65 learners and 16 volunteer tutors taking part in our first year. Everybody loves the warm friendly atmosphere and the chance to make friends with neighbours from different backgrounds while developing your skills. We want to say a huge thank you to all our students and wonderful volunteers – without whom none of this could happen.’

Fáilte Isteach Bray and Kilcoole are part of a national Third Age Ireland initiative. Classes take place weekly in term time at St. Peter’s Parish Centre and St. Fergal’s Junior National School in Bray, and in Kilcoole Community Centre. To find out more contact Lorna at the Partnership on 01 286 8266.

Students, tutors, Lorna Lafferty, Cllr Tom Fortune.