This October, the gym was transformed into a wonderland, full of colour, music, a little bit of magic and of course… tea! Yes, the 2016 – 17 Transition Year class hosted their very own Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
The American-style tea party, is one of the first major annual Transition year fundraiser events, it is a night in which each Transition Year student makes and serves food, tea, coffee and entertains their invited guests. The students themselves are in charge of the planning, preparation of the tea party, and money collected is used to fund future Transition Year projects, allowing the students to make the most of this year of their school journey. This Tea Party also allows the Transition Year’s work as a team, helps them to bond as a group and more importantly, gives the girls a chance to showcase their many creative, musical and artistic talents and ability.
Once the girls had agreed upon the ‘Mad Hatters Tea Party’ theme, weeks of preparation and designing followed. The interior of the school gym was turned into a Wonderland filled with 5ft tall crepe paper flowers, sparkling homemade centerpieces, hand drawn and painted interpretations of movie posters, handmade costumes and bunting flying from every corner of the room.
On the night, as the guests arrived they were guided to their decorated tables overflowing with delicious treats made by the students and the night was opened by the TY choir singing the songs such as ‘Wonderland’ and ‘You Raise Me Up.
The special guest of the evening Róisín Egenton, the 2000 winner of The Rose of Tralee, who gave an uplifting and motivational speech to the Transitions Years, encouraging them to continue to use their creativity and individuality they had displayed so well that evening.
Róisín then topped her inspiring speech by playing a beautiful piece on the violin, whilst the night continued with a toe-tapping Trad tribute, a song ‘Complicated’ composed Transition Year student Rebecca lane and the night ended with a rendition of the song ‘Cold Water’.
The night came to a close with many happy guests leaving with their tummies full of food and smiles on their faces.
After all the time spent working on this tea party the Transition Year students along with their dedicated Co-ordinator Ms Wilson and teachers Ms Casey and Ms Killilea were left pondering “Have we gone mad?”, but as Alice would say, “You’re entirely bonkers, but all the best people are!”
There’s no denying the Tea Party has been one of the highlights of our Transition Year experience so far.
By Niamh McCann
