On Friday May 12th a group of 39 children accompanied by the whole staff of Clonard N.S. Co. Meath and other adults travelled to Myshall for their "School Tour" as part of the millennium twinning of the two areas which are linked by St. Finian patron of both parishes. The children first of all engaged in a couple of football clashes that were won by Myshall despite Meath being the All-Ireland champions! After this they travelled to Foley's Pool Milltown where they enjoyed a swim and then went up Mount Leinster to the Nine Stones. This was the highlight of the trip for the children from Clonard who are more accustomed to the flat lands of Meath. It was most unfortunate that May 12th was very wet and as a result visibility was extremely poor but it did not deter the young students from climbing Sliabh Bán. The children and adults were then treated to refreshments in the Community Centre beautifully prepared by members of Myshall N.S. Parenteacher Association. Fr. 0' Shea and Mr. Danny Dunne jointly cut a cake specially prepared for the occasion by Letitia McLean.

Myshall/Drumphea Millennium Committee presented children with a medal as a souvenir of their football clash with Myshall and presented a scroll to the Principal of the school Mr. Danny Dunne. Mr. Dunne on his part presented Mr. Noel McGarvey with an inscribed plaque for the school to mark the twinning and presented Mrs. Brigid Fox, chairperson of Myshall/Drumphea Millennium Committee with a number of books on the history of Clonard and St. Finian.The visitors planted three trees in the Millennium Park - one on behalf of the school, one on behalf of the G.A.A. in Clonard and one on behalf of the Community in Clonard. The adults and children then visited Tobar Bhri'de, St. Finian Church Ruins and the Adelaide Memorial Church of the Redeemer where they were very impressed to see such architectural and artistic beauty hidden away in such a quiet spot.

Clonard is a small village with two pubs, a shop, filling station, Church, cemetery, and school which will be replaced with a new one over the next few years and a major fund-raising scheme is currently underway to finance this project. There is a Local Authority housing scheme of twenty eight houses and phase one of a new private scheme comprising of 32 houses just completed. This will reach eighty over the next few years. Clonard is located on the main Dublin- Sligo/Galway road, the main artery out of Dublin. The Maynooth Kilcock motorway is on the same route about fifteen miles away, and Clonard is to be by-passed by the motorway by 2006. The road is extremely dangerous and the noise pollution from traffic is a bit overwhelming. Clonard is a parish of ease of Kinnegad and the Parish Priest Monsignor Eamonn Marron and the Curate Fr. Michael Cahill reside in the presbytery-St. Marys, Kinnegad. The school has 67 pupils at the moment and rising. There are three teachers including the Principal. It receives the services of a remedial teacher twice weekly The school takes part in the Dawn Dairies schools championship every year and also take part in the soccer championships and cross country championships. One of the students Ciarán Ryan who visited Myshall won a national gold medal for Gymnastics at the Community Games in Mosney last September and gave a small exhibition in the Community Centre. Very little is left of the great monastery of St. Finian, just a few remnants on the landscape, but there is a great volume of written material. St. Finian is the Patron saint of the Meath Diocese, and The Bishop of Meath designated three centres of indulgence for the Millennium, Mullingar Cathedral of Christ the King, St. Finians, Clonard, and Slane - so anyone going to visit Clonard can gain an indulgence by doing so.

This article is reproduced courtesy of the Myshall Millennium Magazine Committee 2000.