AS part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, Gala Retail,  visited Scoil Naomh Iosef in Ballyheigue on Friday last to donate a huge €5,000 to the school as part of its Gala Gifts for Schools competition.

Scoil Naomh Iosef was named as a ‘runner-up’ in the Gala Gifts for Schools competition, following the school submitting a 30 second video on how they would spend a ‘Gala Gift’ at the school to improve the education and school days of their pupils.

Hundreds of schools from across Ireland entered the competition, and a judging panel, comprising of ex-Fair City actress and Dancing With The Stars contestant Aoibhín Garrihy; Editor of Primary Times, Marie O’Reilly; and Gala Retail’s CEO, Gary Desmond, deemed Scoil Naomh Iosef to have one of the top videos on the day.

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Actress Aoibhín Garrihy surprised the school by appearing at a special assembly in which she gifted the school, on behalf of Gala Retail, a huge €5,000 which the school pledging that the funds will help to paint the school and improve outdoor facilities, including the creation of a  basketball court.

Principal at Scoil Naomh Iosef, Mr Terence Dineen, explains: “When I first heard about the Gala Gifts for Schools competition, I was determined that our school be as creative as possible and create a video that visually showed our school, our local landmarks and how a ‘Gala Gift’ could  make a huge difference to improving our  facilities at the school.

“To have been named as runner-up, receiving such a significant sum of money, is incredible! This will make a real difference to our school and will be of benefit to all of our pupils’ learning experiences. There’s such a buzz in Ballyheigue and we’d like to thank Gala Retail for this extremely generous donation to our school. We wish Gala Retail a very happy 20th anniversary.”

Gala Retail pledged to donate €20,000 to Primary Schools to mark its milestone 20th year and give back to the communities in which its stores serve.

Aoibhín Garrihy was joined by Gala’s Marketing Manager, Tony Cluskey, and local Gala retailers at the prize presentation at Scoil Naomh Iosef.