6th Class trip to Lynch Army Camp

On Friday, 4th February, Rang a Sé and Scoil Mháirtín staff members, Mrs Leddy, Mr Young, Ms Molan and Colette were invited, by Commandant Tadhg O’Donoghue, to Lynch Army Camp to mark the centenary of the handing over of the camp to Irish forces.

The morning started with a military ceremony in the camp grounds, with some speeches, a band playing music and the soldiers doing their official salutes. Next, we were allowed to sit into one of the army tanks and learn all about its special features.

After this, we walked to one of the living huts where the soldiers sleep while training at the camp. Here, we got to hold different guns and weapons and try on various army uniforms such as the helmet and jackets. After this, we had our lunch – we each got a snack box with chicken goujons, sausages and chips along with juice and some buns and scones!

After lunch, we were allowed to practice on the training bars and then we participated in a binoculars task, where we had to locate different objects hidden in marked squares on the grass.

Finally, we went to the main hall where we listened to a talk about Spike Island from Tom O’Neill. Before we departed on the bus, we met some visiting French soldiers who sang their national anthem ‘La Marseillaise’ for us and then we sang ‘Amhra?n na bhFiann’ in return. It was a fantastic day, thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!