CONTRATULATIONS: Prestigious history award for Tipperary students

Congratulations to Ursuline Fifth Year students Muireann Meade, Gillian Aherne and Eimear McCormack, who won first prize in the 2023 Malcolm Doolin Memorial Award.

They share first place with another Irish school, Loreto Balbriggan.

The prize includes a trip to London in November and £500. The trip will include a wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in London, the war memorial in Whitehall erected in 1920 to honour those who died.

The competition is organised by the Western Front Association and aims to promote interest in the First World War and encourage primary and secondary school students to research the effects of the Great War on their localities. The three

Ursuline students began the project in TY under the direction of their teacher Ms Aoife Whelan, and submitted their entry during the summer months.

They researched the War from the perspective of Tipperary and its people during the years 1914-1918, investigating areas such as recruitment, the separation allowance paid to wives of Tipperary soldiers, German POW’s who were imprisoned in

Templemore, the burial of those killed in combat and the lives of veterans who returned from the war to a very changed political landscape.

They used historical articles, primary sources, the local studies section of the Source, online websites and the expertise of local historian Jimmy Duggan to complete their research.

They really enjoyed the exploring this topic and putting together a 62 page project on the effects of World War 1 on Tipperary.

Well done to the three students and to their History teacher Ms Aoife Whelan.

Contributed to School Days in the Tipperary Star.